BALTIMORE - UMBC earned the number four seed in the America East Playoffs and will take on top-seeded UAlbany in the America East Semifinals at Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to the America East Championship on Saturday at 1 p.m. 

The contest is the 33rd all-time meeting between UMBC and UAlbany, dating back to 2004. The Great Danes have won back-to-back contests and seven of the last 10 meetings. The programs met in the regular season on March 21, with UAlbany taking a 10-6 victory. Silas Richmond recorded a hat trick and handed out an assist in the victory. Ryan Demato scored three goals and passed out two assists in the losing effort. Connor McMahon and Brady Smith each made 11 saves in the contest. 

CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

• Thursday kicks off the 26th America East Tournament. Eight different schools have won the America East Tournament Championship, led by UAlbany with 11 tournament titles. UMBC has won four, Vermont has won two, and Bryant has won once. UAlbany is on a quest for a third consecutive crown after victories over UMBC and Bryant in 2025 and Merrimack and Vermont in 2024. UMBC last won the crown in 2019, knocking off the top two seeds, Stony Brook and Vermont, to steal the title as the four seed. 

• UALBANY is 29-11 all-time in the America East Playoffs, qualifying for the playoffs 22 of 23 times as a member of the league.
• UMBC is 12-13 all-time in the America East Playoffs, qualifying for the playoffs 17 of 21 times as a member of the league.

• UAlbany 9, UMBC 7 (2025 Semifinal)
• UAlbany 14, UMBC 12 (2021 Semifinal)
• UAlbany 20, UMBC 11 (2014 Championship)
• UAlbany 19, UMBC 10 (2013 Championship)
• UAlbany 19, UMBC 8 (2012 Semifinal)
• UAlbany 11, UMBC 7 (2010 Semifinal)
• UMBC 14, UAlbany 13 (2008 Championship)
• UAlbany 15, UMBC 14 (2007 Championship)
• UMBC 19, UAlbany 10 (2006 Championship)
• UAlbany 9, UMBC 8 OT (2004 Semifinal)

LAST TIME OUT

• UMBC overcame a big third quarter for Bucknell, tying the game late in the fourth, before putting away the Bison in double overtime on Friday afternoon. Veterans Ryan Demato and Connor Chick scored two goals each to lead UMBC, but it was freshman Than Souza and sophomore Braden Smith, who tied the contest and ultimately won it in the second overtime. Demato extended his multi-goal streak to 10 games and notched the 34th 30-goal season in program history, now sitting at 31.

• The University at Albany men's lacrosse team completed the regular season with a 9-8 win over NJIT on Saturday night. The win moved the Great Danes to a perfect 6-0 in America East play with the 2026 tournament on the horizon next week. Ryan Doherty led the team with four goals. Daniel Kesselring finished with a team-high three assists. CJ Schwarz went 12-16 at the X and Smith made seven saves in net.

HOW THEY GOT HERE

• Despite starting 0-2 in America East play, UMBC won four consecutive AE contests and finished the regular season with a fifth straight victory to finish the season 6-6 and 4-2 in conference play. The Retrievers qualify as the fourth seed after finishing in a three-way tie with Bryant and Vermont. UMBC outscored its opponents 71-54 in America East play, with Demato scoring 20 of his 31 goals in league games. Chick recorded 11 goals and seven assists in America East contests. During league games, Connor McMahon went 4-2 with 62 saves and a 9.07 GAA. 
• UAlbany went wire-to-wire in league play, starting with a victory over Bryant on March 14 and finishing with a one-goal win at NJIT on Saturday. The Great Danes won five of their six league games by three or more goals, outscoring opponents 73-42. Richmond played in five league games, scoring 18 goals and handing out 11 assists. Doherty contributed 13 goals and three assists in five league games. Brady Smith posted a GAA of just 6.96 in league play, saving 59.6 percent of shots. 

SCOUTING THE GREAT DANES

• UAlbany enters the America East playoffs with a 9-5 overall record and a perfect 6-0 conference record. The Great Danes posted a 5-2 record at home this season and have won seven of eight games to close out the regular season after a 2-4 start. 
• The Great Danes rank inside the top-10 in two national statistical categories, posting the second-best clearing percentage (92.4) in the country behind LIU (93.0) and ranking sixth in caused turnovers per game (10.29). 
• The America East leader in points per game with 4.77, Silas Richmond has put together an outstanding senior season, scoring 34 goals and dishing out 28 assists. Richmond ranks second in the league in goals and goals per game (2.62) despite not playing in the regular-season finale against NJIT. Richmond scored multiple goals and recorded at least four points in 10 straight games from Feb. 17 to April 11 before a one-goal, two-assist performance against Siena on April 14. Richmond played sparingly versus Yale before sitting out against NJIT. The All-American has 157 goals and 108 assists in 66 career games. 
• Finishing out the regular season on a tear, Doherty is second on the team with 26 goals. The junior has 13 goals and three assists in the last four games of the season and has seven multi-goal games in 2026. Doherty joined Richmond in the UAlbany 100-goal club versus Vermont on April 11. He sits with 108 goals and 38 assists in 48 games. 
• Max Neeson and Jacob Smith pace one of the top defenses in the country in caused turnovers, forcing 30 and 24, respectively. Neeson, a senior who was named the America East Defensive Player of the Year and an All-American in 2025, has set a new career-high in caused turnovers, pushing him up to 85 for his career. Neeson has seven games this season with three or more caused turnovers. He has also added four goals on the offensive end. Smith, an All-America East Second Team selection last season, is one shy of 50 caused turnovers for his career, and has seven games this year with multiple caused turnovers.  
• Smith has started all 14 games in goal for UAlbany, making 126 saves and posting a GAA of 10.13 for the Great Danes. Smith has five games this season with 11 or more saves. 

SCOUTING THE DAWGS

• Not far behind UAlbany, UMBC ranks fourth in the nation in clearing percentage, clearing the ball successfully 91.5 percent of the time. The Retrievers also rank inside the top 20 in scoring defense (9.83) and Face-Off Winning Percentage (56.5). 
• With two goals on Friday, Demato became the 27th Retriever in history to record 30 or more goals in a season. He currently ranks in a tie for 31st on the UMBC all-time single-season scoring list heading into Thursday night. After just one goal in the first two games, Demato has scored multiple goals in each of the last 10 contests, averaging three goals per game during that stretch. He currently ranks fourth in the America East with 31 goals and third in the league in goals per game at 2.58. The junior has added nine assists this season to give him 40 points. 
• Chick and Jake Kucinski rank second and third on the team in points this season with 32 and 26, respectively. Chick has 19 goals and 13 assists, and has scored multiple goals in four straight games, while Kucinski has 15 goals and 11 assists this season. Chick has 60 career points with 43 goals and 17 assists, while Kucinski has 48 goals in his career after scoring 33 in two seasons at St. Bonaventure. 
• A two-time America East Face-off Specialist of the Week, Alex Steers has 130 face-off wins for the Retrievers this season, winning 58.6 percent of the time at the X. His 130 wins is tied for 16th in a UMBC single season and are nine shy of his total from 2025. Steers also leads the team with 55 ground balls, and scored his first career goal against NJIT. 
• Sophomore captain Jameson Coffman continues to do it all for UMBC, scoring seven goals, handing out three assists, causing six turnovers, and picking up 14 ground balls. 
• Connor McMahon has made 121 saves this season and holds a 10.07 GAA through 12 games. McMahon has had at least seven saves in each game this year, setting a new season-high last month against Bryant with 14, including a number of highlight reel saves. Billy Stephens entered in relief of McMahon on Friday and made nine saves over the fourth quarter and overtime, while allowing zero goals. This earned him America East Goalkeeper of the Week honors. 

2026 AMERICA EAST STAT RANKINGS
TEAM

• 1st in Goals Allowed - 118
• 1st in Goals Allowed Average - 9.76
• 1st in Shots Per Game - 40.0
• 2nd in Turnovers - 184
• 2nd in Penalty Killing Percentage - 67.6%

INDIVIDUAL

• Demato - 3rd in Goals Per Game - 2.58
• Demato - 4th in Goals - 31
• Demato - 4th in Points - 40
• Demato - 4th in Points Per Game - 3.33
• Connor McMahon - 3rd in GAA - 10.07
• Alex Steers - 3rd in Face-Offs Won - 130
• Steers - 3rd in Face-Off Win Percentage - .586
• Steers - 4th in Ground Balls Per Game - 4.58

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 VERSUS REGULAR SEASON FINISH
1. UAlbany - 40 (6) - 1st
2. Bryant - 29 (1) - 2nd
3. Vermont - 24 - 3rd
4. UMBC - 21 - 4th 
5. Binghamton - 18 - 6th
6. UMass Lowell - 8 - 7th
7. NJIT - 7 - 5th