CAMBRIDGE, Mass- UMBC's Ryan Smith (Fallston, Md./Fallston/CCBC-Essex) has been named America East Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week after leading the Retrievers to their fourth straight win. Vermont's Liam Thomas (Spring Lake Heights, N.J./CBA) has been tabbed Rookie of the Week for the week ending March 30. Complete Weekly Release.
Smith, a junior attack, tallied a team-high five points and led the Retrievers to a 14-12 win over conference-rival Stony Brook on Saturday. Smith scored three goals and dished out two assists as UMBC won its fourth straight contest. The junior attack has a team-leading 16 scores on the season and has six goals and five assists over his last two games.
Thomas, a freshman attack, scored his first three collegiate goals in a pair of games last week, including two in a win over Hartford on Saturday. The victory was the first in a league opener for the Catamounts since 2003. Thomas, who also won 9-of-16 face-offs on the week, scored once against Brown on Tuesday.
Team-By-Team Notebook
Albany (2-5, 1-0 America East) won its America East Conference opener for the seventh consecutive year in an 8-2 victory over Binghamton on March 29... The Great Danes held the visitors to the lowest goal total by a conference opponent since April 6, 2002... UAlbany is ranked 13th among the national leaders in scoring defense at 6.43 goals per game... Goalkeeper Brett Queener (Penn Yan, N.Y. / Penn Yan Academy) made six saves and had six ground balls, one off his career-best, as his team limited Binghamton to 17 shots on the cage... Queener, who has 372 career saves, needs five to move into fifth place on the program’s career chart... the senior is among the nation’s top-20 with a .590 save percentage... Corey Small (St. Catharines, Ontario / Holy Cross) tied a season-high with four points (2 goals, 2 assists)... Small has accounted for four or more points on seven occasions as a collegian, including three times this season... The Great Danes led 2-1 in the second quarter, but then scored three in a two-minute-and-16-second span... Steve Ammann (Putnam Valley, N.Y. / Putnam Valley) ignited that run with a bounce shot from the left side... Small had a hand in the next two goals, as he finished off a perfectly executed fastbreak and fed Mark Cometti (Syracuse, N.Y. / West Genesee) for an underhanded blast... Cometti has a goal in back-to-back contests after not scoring since April 15, 2006... Small equaled a career-best with two assists, while Nate Sullivan (Gilbert, Ariz. / Mesquite) scored in his first appearance of the spring... Sullivan sent a blast into the top right corner in an extra-man situation in the third period... sophomore attack Brian Grodotske (Rocky Point, N.Y. / Rocky Point) tallied his first goal in 18 days by spinning to his right shoulder in the opening quarter.
Binghamton (2-4, 0-1 America East) has dropped its past three games, all on the road. Two of those games have come against Top 10 teams and the third game came against an opponent receiving votes in both national polls ... the Bearcats return home for three of their next four games, starting on Saturday against UMBC.
Hartford (0-9, 0-1 America East) dropped a 7-5 decision to Vermont in its America East opener over the weekend at Al-Marzook Field. The Catamounts never trailed but had to hold off a strong rally from the Hawks late in the fourth quarter. Senior Brian Tilley (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./St. Anthony's) led Hartford with two goals while junior Jon McMahon (Tonawanda, N.Y./Sweet Home) made 14 saves in goal... A trio of players lead the Hawks in scoring with 13 points on the season; sophomore Justin Bearse has a team-high 10 goals and three assists, junior Jacob Eustice (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) has six goals and seven assists and freshman Michael Cudmore (Ashburn, Ontario/All Saints Catholic) has three goals and a team-high 10 assists... Hartford will next host Albany on Saturday, April 5 at Al-Marzook Field.
UMBC (5-3, 1-0 America East) sophomore attackman Matt Latham (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty) scored a career high four goals as 13th-ranked UMBC (5-3, 1-0 America East) outlasted Stony Brook (4-4, 0-1) on Saturday night, 14-12, in the conference opener for both teams... The Retrievers have won four straight and five of their last six games. They have also won nine consecutive games and 14 of the last 15 at UMBC Stadium...The 14 goals scored represented a season-high for UMBC which has won those four straight games by a total of six goals... UMBC trailed, 9-8 three minutes into the third quarter, but outscored the Seawolves 6-0 over the next 18 minutes to take a commanding 14-9 advantage with 7:24 remaining... Sophomore attackman Chris Jones (Martinsville, N.J./Raritan-Bridgewater) tied the score at 9-9 on a Kyle Wimer (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) feed with 11:16 to play in the third quarter and sophomore midfielder Maxx Davis (Baltimore, Md./Friends) gave the hosts the lead for good on an unassisted tally just 53 seconds later... Retriever junior attackman Ryan Smith (Fallston, Md./Fallston/CCBC-Essex) then posted his team-high 15th and 16th goals of the season to end the third quarter and open the fourth... Smith, who scored three goals and added three assists at Ohio State a week ago, added three goals and two helpers against the Seawolves... Jones (2g, 1a), Wimer (1g, 2a) and Davis (1g, 2a) all scored three points for UMBC...UMBC outshot Stony Brook, 42-36 and Retriever junior netminder Jeremy Blevins (Cockeysville, Md.) made 11 saves in the contest... The Retrievers face local rival Towson at Unitas Stadium on Tuesday before traveling to Binghamton to face the Bearcats in an America East match on Saturday...UMBC is now 10-2 in games decided by three goals or less since the beginning of the 2007 season... The Retrievers are now 19-4 all-time in America East play and are 188-188 in 27 years-plus of Division I competition... Latham also led the team with six ground balls in the game.
Vermont (2-7, 1-0 America East) defeated Hartford 7-5 in its America East opener on Saturday and dropped an 11-7 decision at Brown last Tuesday ... The victory against the Hawks marked the first time since 2003 the Catamounts have won their conference opener ... Senior goalie Justin Lubas (Freehold, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) made a career high 18 saves in the win against Hartford ... Lubas also had a team-high five ground balls ... Freshman Liam Thomas (Spring Lake Heights, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) scored a pair of goals in the win against the Hawks ... Freshman Derek Lichtfuss (Lutherville, Md./St. Paul’s) recorded three goals on the week ... Lichtfuss is second on the team in scoring this season with nine goals and 11 points ... Freshman Liam Teer (Vancouver, B.C./Lawrenceville) went 12-for-19 on face offs, scored a goal and grabbed a team-high three ground balls in the loss at Brown ... The Catamounts have played eight of their first nine games on the road this season ... Vermont hosts Fairfield on Tuesday (4/1) at 4pm before traveling to Stony Brook (4/5) on Saturday for a 4pm start.