BALTIMORE - After a hard fought battle with (RV) Towson last Friday night, UMBC will travel to New York to take on Hofstra on Saturday afternoon. The contest will take place at Farmingdale State (Rams Field) due to a turf issue at Hofstra. The contest's opening face-off is scheduled for 4:04 p.m. UMBC sits at 1-3 on the season, while Hofstra is 1-4.
Saturday's meeting will be the fifth all-time between UMBC and Hofstra and the first since 1992. UMBC won the 1992 meeting 15-12 after dropping three straight between 1988-1991.
LAST TIME OUT
- Jake Kucinski, Ryan Demato, and Connor Chick each scored two goals and handed out at least one assist in a 14-10 loss to Towson. Kucinski led the way with five points in the contest, handing out three assists. 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.
- Trevor Natalie and Gus Langtry each recorded hat tricks for the Pride, but #14 Rutgers held on for an 11-8 victory on Saturday. Shea Kennedy made nine saves in net for Hofstra. Drew Bogardus had three ground balls and a goal for the Pride, while Blake Cooling had five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Colin Kurdyla had four points on two goals and two assists for Rutgers, while Greyson Vorgang added a pair of goals. Stoller made 12 saves for the Scarlet Knights.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
- UMBC senior captain Dante Marinello was named America East Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career after a strong week for the Retrievers. A 2025 All-America East Second Team selection and a 2026 America East Preseason All-Conference selection, Marinello totaled four caused turnovers, three ground balls, and scored a goal in a 1-1 week for UMBC. On Tuesday afternoon, Marinello scored the game-tying goal with 9:10 to play in the 7-4 victory over Mount St. Mary's. The goal was the second of Marinello's career. Marinello also tied for the team-high with two caused turnovers and added three ground balls in the win. He then followed up on that performance by causing two more turnovers on Friday night at Towson.
SCOUTING THE PRIDE
- Hostra comes into the contest 1-4, defeating Iona to open the season before falling to Holy Cross in double overtime. Hofstra also dropped recent contests to Siena, St. John's, and Rutgers.
- Natalie is the program's leading scorer through five games, logging 13 goals and four assists. Natalie has multiple goals in four of five games, including a season-high four goals and two assists against Iona. In 45 career games, Natalie has 77 points, scoring 56 goals and handing out 21 assists.
- Anthony Mollica leads the team with nine assists after handing out four against Siena. Molliva has scored a goal in four of five games and has handed out at least one assist in each game.
- Joey DeYoung (8) and Langtry (7) are next on the goals list for the Pride. DeYoung has three multi-goal games this season, scoring two apiece against Holy Cross, Siena, and St. John's. Langtry has a pair of three-goal games this season, adding a hat trick against Siena as well.
- Redshirt senior Blake Cooling leads the defense with eight caused turnovers this season, recording multiple in three different games. Cooling added an assist and caused three turnovers against Iona. He has also picked up at least four ground balls in every game this season.
- Shea Kennedy has performed well in net, saving 54.5 percent of shots faced and holding a GAA of 9.79 through five games. Kennedy has 60 saves this season, with at least nine in every game this season. His season-high was 18 versus Holy Cross.
SCOUTING THE DAWGS
- Ryan Demato is the leading goal scorer for the Retrievers, putting the ball into the back of the net seven times in four games this season. Demato has at least one point in every game this season, and has seven points in his last two games, scoring four goals in the victory over Mount St. Mary's before contributing two goals and an assist versus Towson.
- Jake Kucinski leads the Retrievers in points this season, tallying 10 with five goals and five assists. The St. Bonaventure transfer has two multi-goal games this season (Drexel, Towson) and a three-assist game (Towson).
- Connor Chick leads the team with six assists, and is tied with Demato for second on the team in points (9), after a two-goal, one-assist performance against Towson. Chick handed out three assists in the opener versus Drexel and has recorded one assist in each game.
- Senior Casey Pung leads the team with seven caused turnovers on the season, thanks to a dominant performance against Loyola (Md.) where he caused four turnovers. Pung has eight ground balls as well this season, picking up four against Towson.
- Alex Steers has won 54 percent of his face-offs, picking up a team-high 15 ground balls.
- Connor McMahon has made 36 saves this season and holds an 11.25 GAA through four games.
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
