TOWSON, Md. - UMBC held a halftime lead on Friday night at Towson, but a big third quarter for the Tigers sent them past the Retrievers. UMBC dropped to 1-3, while Towson improved to 2-2.
Jake Kucinski,
Ryan Demato, and
Connor Chick each scored two goals and handed out at least one assist for the Retrievers, with Kucinski tallying five points thanks to a trio of assists in the contest.
It was Demato who opened the scoring, putting UMBC ahead just 51 seconds into the contest. Kucinski's first goal of the day would put UMBC back ahead 2-1 with 5:12 left in the opening quarter before Demato made it 3-1 with 3:04 to play.
After Towson tied the game at 3-3, the teams would trade goals back-and-forth before a
Corey Myers goal with 2:20 left in the half put UMBC ahead 6-5 at the break.
Ayden Davis scored his first goal of the season with 12:03 to play in the quarter and a diving goal from Chick made it 5-4 with 4:36 left on the second quarter clock.
Unfortunately for the Retrievers, the third quarter was all Tigers as they put the ball in the net nine times to pull ahead 14-8 entering the fourth. Kuchinski scored with 10:49 left in the period to keep UMBC within two, but the Tigers scored five of the next six. Chick scored a beautiful behind-the-back goal with 3:12 to play in the third to make it 11-8.
UMBC kept Towson off the board in the fourth, getting two goals of its own to bring the gap to 14-10 as
Nick Gutierrez scored his second goal of the season with 5:13 to play, but the Retrievers couldn't get any closer.
Nathan Ward scored his first of the season on the man-up with 7:11 remaining.
UMBC caused seven turnovers on defense with
Dante Marinello adding two to his total.
Casey Pung led the team with four ground balls, also causing a turnover in the contest.
Connor McMahon made eight saves for UMBC.
All-American Mikey Weisshaar scored five goals and added an assist while Joaquin Villagomez totaled seven points with four goals and three assists. Jake Law caused three turnovers for Towson, while Kai Lopez won 18 face-offs and picked up 15 ground balls.
UMBC travels to Hofstra next Saturday for a non-conference matchup.
