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News Release
Men's Lacrosse Set to Host Fifth-Ranked Johns Hopkins on Tuesday; Wimer Named America East Rookie of the Week
3/5/2007
UMBC will play for the third time in four days as they host Johns Hopkins for the first time ever. The four previous meetings between JHU and UMBC all took place at Homewood Field. The Retrievers (2-1) just returned from Colorado, where they split a pair of games, defeating Air Force, 13-7, on Saturday, before falling, 13-8 to Denver on Sunday afternoon. UMBC has won five straight games at UMBC Stadium.
THE POLLING PLACES ARE OPEN: After ending the 2006 campaign ranked #11, the Retrievers were ranked #11 in the pre-season USILA poll. They are currently ranked #21 (receiving votes, 27) by Nike/Inside Lacrosse.
GREAT DANE IN THE MORNING: The University at Albany, winners of three of the last four league crowns, and defending conference champion UMBC have each received a total of 32 points and sit tied atop the America East Men’s Lacrosse Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The Great Danes received three first-place votes, while the Retrievers garnered two.
TOUGH SLATE: The Retrievers are set to take on nine teams which are receiving votes in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse top 20. This week, UMBC’s opponents are ranked #5 (Johns Hopkins), , #9 (Albany), #10 (Maryland), #13 (Towson) #18 (Denver), #20 Pennsylvania, #25 (Brown), #28 Ohio State and #29 (Stony Brook).
ON AIR: Four UMBC games will be televised this season and at least five will be on radio. The games vs. Johns Hopkins and Vermont will air on MASN-TV, while games vs. Ohio State and at Maryland will be broadcast on WMAR-TV/ESPNU. The games set for WVIE Radio (1370 AM, www.v1370.com) are vs. Brown, Penn, Towson, Binghamton and at Stony Brook.
A LOOK BACK:The Retrievers finished the season with their first winning record since 2003...the ten wins is the most for UMBC in a season since winning 11 games in 1999. UMBC finished the 2006 season ranked #7 in man-up offense (41.7%), ninth in offense (10.33 gpg) and 13th in defense (7.93 gapg).
For the second consecutive year, UMBC captured the America East Conference regular season title on the final day of the campaign. Last season, UMBC won at Albany, 9-8, to share the league title with the Great Danes, and, on April 29, the Retrievers produced a convincing 20-9 win over Stony Brook to win the title outright. UMBC was the first #1 seed to win the tournament title since Towson accomplished the feat in 2001. Albany had won three staight America East championships.
IN LEAGUE PLAY: UMBC is now 14-3 in two-plus years of America East Conference (regular season) play. They have held 16 of 17 teams to single digits in goals, allowing Stony Brook ten goals in last year’s 10-9 setback.
40TH ANNIVERSARY UMBC enters its 40th season of varsity men's lacrosse with an updated record of 290-246. They are 174-181 in 26 years-plus at the Division I level.
NEED THAT RADIO/TV CHART: There are 21 freshmen on the 2007 roster and 35 of the 46 players have one year or less of Division I experience
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Senior Drew Westervelt sits in 11th place in UMBC history with 148 points (81-67-148). He was the sixth-leading active scorer in the nation entering the 2007 season. Classmate Andy Gallagher became the 23rd player in school history to record 100 points and he has moved into 21st place with 105 points (71g-34a). Both Retriever attackmen were named to the Pioneer Face Off Classic’s All Tournament team.
SERIES HISTORY: The Blue Jays have won all four meetings, triumphing 15-4 in 1983, 10-8 in 1984, 9-6 in 2005 and 12-7 last season. The 1984 contest was Don Zimmerman’s first game as JHU’s bench boss.
MOOD SWINGS: UMBC has outscored its opponents, 12-3 in the third quarter, but has been outscored by that exact amount in the fourth quarter this year. Last season, through the first five games, UMBC was outscored, 20-4, in the final stanza of play.
TOUGH LOSSES: UMBC’s last six losses have occured to teams all ranked in the USILA or Inisde Lacrosse top 20.
UNLUCKY 13: Denver’s 13 goals against UMBC was the most given up by the Retrievers since allowing 16 goals at fourth-ranked Maryland in the fifth game of the 2005 season (a span of 25 games of 12 goals allowed or less).
PLAYER NOTES
Terry Kimener scored his first career goal in 2005 at Johns Hopkins and scored a goal and added three assists in last year’s game.
Andy Gallagher has two goals and three assists in the two previous games at Johns Hopkins.
Drew Westervelt has been held without a goal in two career games at Johns Hopkins.
Alex Hopmann posted his three straight multi-goal games with a pair of scores vs. Albany, three vs. Princeton (in last year’s NCAA First Round) and two in the opener vs. Brown, but he was held scoreless in two games in Colorado.
Goalkeeper Jeremy Blevins made a career-high 16 saves in the win over Air Force, while playing 52:15. He only allowed five of the seven AFA goals.
Freshmen Kyle Wimer and Cayle Ratcliffe have made an immediate impact on the offensive end for UMBC. Wimer is fourth on the team with nine points (3g, 6a), while Ratcliffe scored four goals in the two Face Off Classic games. Wimer was just named America East Conference Rookie of the Week as he scored a goal and added six assists in UMBC’s two games in Colorado.
Taylor Marino has won 38 of 63 face-offs to date, a winning percentage of 62.3%.