BALTIMORE - UMBC men's lacrosse hosts Loyola (Md.) on Friday evening under the lights at UMBC Stadium in a local non-conference battle. The Retrievers dropped the home-opener to Drexel on Friday by a score of 15-8, while Loyola is 0-2 with losses to local ranked foes Maryland and Johns Hopkins.
Friday's contest will be the first meeting in 13 years between the programs and the 32nd all-time. UMBC holds a slight edge in the series, 16-15, despite Loyola winning 11 of the last 13 matchups. The Retrievers were victorious in back-to-back seasons against Loyola in 2004 and 2005. The Greyhounds won the last two meetings in 2012 and 2013.
LAST TIME OUT
- Jack Fish's first career UMBC goal pulled the Retrievers within one with 10:38 to play, but Drexel ended the game on a 6-0 run to pull out a 15-8 victory. Jake Kucinski (2 goals, 1 assist), Connor Chick (3 assists), and Xander Maxwell (1 goal, 1 assist) all recorded multiple points in the season-opening contest for the Retrievers. Defensively, seven different Retrievers caused a turnover, while Dylan Hendrix and Dylan Sharpe recorded five and four ground balls, respectively. Connor McMahon made 10 saves in net for UMBC. The Retrievers also won the face-off battle, 15-12, with Alex Steers winning 15-of-26 tries at the face-off X.
- Johns Hopkins scored the first five goals of a 13-7 win over Loyola at Homewood Field. Loyola would score the next three goals, pulling within two, keeping it within two late in the first half before Hopkins scored a pair of goals to spark a 6-0 run into the third quarter. Cook added three goals in the loss, while Max Watkinson made 15 saves.
SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS
- Mason Cook has led the Greyhounds in scoring in both of their first two games, scoring three times against both Maryland and Johns Hopkins. The hat tricks are the third and fourth of his career with the previous two coming in the last four games of his freshman at Loyola.
- Cook exploded for 10 points on five goals and five assists against Holy Cross and scored two more against Navy to bring his season totals to 17 goals, seven assists and 24 points. He is the only freshman in NCAA Division I to post 10 points in a game this year, and he is the first Loyola freshman to do so since Pat Spencer had five goals and five assists in the 2016 Patriot League Championship Game against Army West Point. In the last five games (since Bucknell) of the year, Cook had 12 goals and five assists, while shooting .363 (12 of 33).
- Loyola returns 97.69 percent of its goals scored, 96.55 percent of its assists, 88.89 of its faceoffs won and all of its goalie saves from last year.
- Loyola lost just two players – both on the defensive side of the ball – who scored goals last year: Remi Reynolds (two goals) and Diego Roman (one). That gives Head Coach Charley Toomey a NCAA Division I leading 97.69 percent of goals scored back on the lineup for 2026.
- Matthew Minicus opened the 2025 season, his junior campaign at Loyola, with a four-point effort against Georgetown, and the multi-point games continued to trend. Through the start of 2026, he has 25 career multi-goal outings and 17 multi-assist performances.
SCOUTING THE DAWGS
- UMBC's top leading scorer in 2025, Jordan Galloway (20 goals, 16 assists), is gone, but the next four leading goal scorers all return in Chick, Myers, Maxwell, and Ryan Demato, who all scored between 10 and 19 goals in 2025. Gutierrez is also back after finishing fifth on the team in points a year ago. Chick (19 g, 3 a) is the top returning scorer for UMBC. Maxwell (19 points) and Myers (18 points) are the next highest Retrievers in terms of returning point totals. In the opening game of the season, Chick handed out three assists, while Maxwell chipped in with a goal and an assist.
- Alex Steers returns at the face-off X for UMBC, winning 130 face-offs and leading the team with 54 ground balls last year. Steers won 15-of-26 face-offs in the opener versus Drexel.
- Dante Marinello, a 2026 America East Preseason All-Conference selection, returns to lead the UMBC defense. Marinello caused 16 turnovers and picked up 22 ground balls. Marinello was named to the All-America East Second Team in 2025. He is joined by veterans Casey Pung and Dylan Hendrix, giving the Retrievers an experienced group defensively. Pung started 10 games and caused 10 turnovers last year with Hendrix starting 10 games and causing six. Marinello and Pung each caused a turnover on Friday night, while Hendrix led the team with give ground balls.
- LSM Dylan Sharpe was second on the team a year ago in caused turnovers (15) and ground balls (29) while adding a goal and an assist. Sharpe added four ground balls and a caused turnover versus Drexel.
- Joining Marinello and Sharpe in leadership roles are Gutierrez, voted a unanimous captain, and Jameson Coffman, one of a small number of sophomore captains in program history. Coffman played in 10 games as a freshman, developing a bigger role as a short-stick defensive midfielder throughout the season. Coffman caused a turnover and scored a goal for the Retrievers on Friday with Gutierrez chipping in with a goal as well.
- Another Preseason All-America East selection, McMahon won six games last season, making 90 saves and posting a 9.91 GAA to earn America East Goalkeeper of the Year honors. McMahon made 10 saves for the Retrievers versus Drexel, his sixth career game with 10 or more saves.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
- RETURNERS - #0 Noah Hall, #1 Corey Myers, #2 Zack Johnson, #3 Mike Dunleavy, #5 Justin Webber, #6 Ryan Demato, #8 Cam Dick, #9 Braden Smith, #10 Nick Gutierrez, #11 Conner Layden, #12 Casey Pung, #13 Connor Chick, #14 Gavin Batelka, #15 Keegan Ryan, #17 Alec Howard, #18 Logan Earl, #20 Dante Marinello, #21 Connor McMahon, #22 Kevin Bredeck, #23 Dylan Sharpe, #24 Zach Coyle, #28 Ayden Davis, #30 Billy Stephens, #31 Griffen McNeir, #33 Dylan Hendrix, #36 Josh Schrader, #38 Landon Greenberg, #39 Alex Steers, #40 Nathan Ward, #43 Xander Maxwell, #44 Logan Duffy, #55 Jameson Coffman
- TRANSFERS - #50 Jake Kucinski, #53 Ethan Wiech
- FRESHMEN - #4 Grant Mauldin, #16 Thomas Keating, #19 Todd Freeman, #25 Paulo Vazquez, #26 Elliott McClendon, #27 Caiden Merritt, #34 Drew Lapointe, #45 Jack Fish, #49 Than Souza
2025 IN REWIND
- UMBC opened up the season with victories over Drexel and Mount St. Mary's, beginning the year 2-0 for the second time in three seasons. The Retrievers dropped games to Towson and #13 Richmond before opening up America East play on March 15.
- The Retrievers opened up league play with victories over Vermont and UAlbany, taking wins by final scores of 10-7 and 13-12 in overtime. UMBC fell at Bryant, 12-7, its lone America East regular season loss.
- The Dawgs bonced back with wins over UMass Lowell and Binghamton at home before winning 19-11 at NJIT. UMBC finished off the regular season with a neutral site loss to Holy Cross before heading to Smithfield, Rhode Island for the America East Championships. UMBC fell 9-7 in a rematch of the regular season thriller with UAlbany. The Retrievers led 6-3 in the second, but UAlbany scored six of the final seven goals to come away victorious.
AMERICA EAST PRESEASON POLL
1. UAlbany - 40 (6)
2. Bryant - 29 (1)
3. Vermont - 24
4. UMBC - 21
5. Binghamton - 18
6. UMass Lowell - 8
7. NJIT - 7
WHAT'S NEXT
