UMBC Men's Lacrosse Upsets Maryland in NCAA First Round

UMBC Men's Lacrosse Upsets Maryland in NCAA First Round

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College Park, Md. - The UMBC men’s lacrosse team stunned seventh-seeded Maryland, 13-9 to advance to the quarter-final round of the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. The Retrievers will face another unseeded team, Delaware in Annapolis, Md. on Sunday, May 20.

With the win, UMBC becomes the second America East team to advance to the quarterfinals as Albany downed Loyola (Md.) earlier in the day. America East and the Atlantic Coast Conference are the only two conferences in the country to boast two quarterfinal squads.

Freshman attackman Cayle Ratcliffe scored a game-high four goals and sophomore netminder Jeremy Blevins turned away a career-high 18 Terrapin shots as UMBC erased a 3-0 first quarter deficit to record their first NCAA Tournament Division I win in four tries.


Trailing 4-2 early in the second quarter, UMBC outscored the Terrapins, 9-1 in a span of 27:49 to take a 11-5 advantage after three quarters. The Terrapins drew within 12-8 with 7:34 remaining, but Ratcliffe’s fourth goal of the game after a Josh Porcell feed with 6:28 remaining restored a five-goal lead. The Terps answered 14 seconds later, but would not score again as Blevins made six fourth-quarter saves.


“This team has been fighters all year,” Head Coach Don Zimmerman said. “They have a great attitude and we had a terrific week of practice. We came ready to play against a tough Maryland team in Byrd Stadium.”


The Retrievers fell behind, 3-0, but Retriever attackmen Drew Westervelt and Cayle Ratcliffe closed the quarter with unassisted tallies to bring the Retrievers to within 3-2 after 15 minutes. After Maryland’s Dan Groot scored the first goal of the second quarter, the Retriever attack struck again, as Andy Gallagher and Westervelt scored in a 49-second span to tie the game at four-all.


The Retrievers would take their first lead as Josh Porcell scored from the perimeter after a Gallagher feed at the 8:30 mark. Maryland’s Max Ritz would tie the game on an extra-man goal, but senior midfielder P.J. Kimener restored the Retrievers’ lead on an unassisted score with 1:37 remaining in the half. Then, 29 seconds later, Ratcliffe charged in and posted his second goal of the half to give the visitors a 7-5 advantage at intermission.


UMBC outscored Maryland, 4-0 in the third quarter and has outscored its opponents, 50-28 in the third stanza this season. The Retrievers improved to 11-0 when leading after three quarters in 2007.


Four Retrievers-senior attackmen Drew Westervelt and Andy Gallagher, senior midfielder Josh Porcell and sophomore midfielder Alex Hopmann scored two goals apiece, while senior middie P.J. Kimener had a goal and two assists. Westervelt became the fourth player in school history to record 200 points and stands in third place all-time with 202.


“We were disappointed that we did not repeat as America East champions, but we felt we were a good ball club, one that deserved to be one of the teams invited to the tournament,” Zimmerman said. “Tonight we proved it.”

Freshman attackman Cayle Ratcliffe scored a game-high four goals and sophomore netminder Jeremy Blevins turned away a career-high 18 Terrapin shots as UMBC erased a 3-0 first quarter deficit to record their first NCAA Tournament Division I win in four tries.

Courtesy UMBC Sports Information