UMBC

Baltimore—Senior midfielder Peet Poillon (Cranberry Township, Pa.) tied a career-best with four goals and the Retriever defense permitted a season-low four goals as sixth-ranked UMBC (7-2) defeated Towson (4-5), 14-4, in the 40^th meeting between two schools.

Freshman attackman Rob Grimm (Black River, N.Y.) led all scorers with a season-best two goals and three assists and senior midfielder Alex Hopmann (Annapolis, Md.) added three goals and one helper as UMBC defeated their cross-town rivals for the third consecutive time.

The Retrievers extended their season-high winning streak to four straight, while the Tigers saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.  UMBC’s 7-2 record is the best since the same start to the 1997 campaign.

The Retrievers never trailed, leading 2-1 after one quarter, and 3-2 early in the second stanza, when the hosts outscored Towson, 4-1, in the final 7:41 of the period. Grimm and Poillon scored at 7:41 and 4:42 respectively and after Towson’s Sean McGuire interrupted the run at the 2:44 mark, UMBC appeared to take the momentum heading into halftime. Junior midfielder Kyle Wimer (Lancaster, Pa.)  and Poillon scored 27 seconds apart at the 1:45 and 1:17 marks to give UMBC a 7-3 halftime lead.

But the Retrievers committed three fouls on Towson’s final possession of the half and it took the Tigers just 18 seconds to take advantage of the six-on-three as Brock Armour netted an unassisted tally. However, it would be TU’s final goal of the night as senior netminder Jeremy Blevins (Cockeysville, Md./Calvert Hall) and the defense shut the door the rest of the way.

UMBC built the lead to 12-4 after three quarters as five different players scored. Grimm notched assists on three consecutive second half goals, capped by a feed to Hopmann, who rifled in his team-high 23^rd goal of the season on the extra-man with 5:17 remaining.

Blevins, who made 16 saves and allowed only six goals in last season’s 9-6 win at Towson, stopped 11 shots and allowed all four Tiger goals in 58:02 in tonight’s contest.

McGuire led Towson with a pair of goals, while Armour had a goal and a helper. TU netminder Rob Wheeler made eight saves, allowing 12 goals through three quarters. The Retrievers outshot the Tigers, 35-32, and stalemated the visitors in face-offs, taking 11 of 21.

Wimer (one goal, two assists), and junior attackman Chris Jones (Martinsville, N.J.) (one goal, one assist) were other multiple-point producers for UMBC, while junior defense midfielder Jordan Pierce (Glen Burnie, Md./Mount St. Joseph) scored his first career goal.

Notes: The 10-goal margin of victory by UMBC is just the third-such in the all-time series and was one shy of the 11-goal margin in the 20-9 Retriever victory in 1999… Towson leads the series, 26-14, but UMBC is 7-6 vs. the Tigers since 1997… The four goals allowed by UMBC is the fewest since a 6-3 win over Binghamton in late April of 2006… The 14 goals allowed by Towson is a season high… In four games vs. Towson, Blevins (3-1) made 48 saves and allowed 27 goals, a save percentage of  .640… The Retrievers face four America East Conference opponents to close the regular season, beginning with Saturday’s home date with Binghamton.