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