After a
strong start to the men's lacrosse season for America East teams, two
of which are ranked nationally, America East Conference play begins on
Saturday with three intriguing matchups.
Hartford
and Vermont get the day started with a 2 p.m. face off in Burlington.
UMBC and Stony Brook will meet on Long Island in the nightcap of
doubleheader to benefit autism at 2:30 with No. 10 Duke and Dartmouth
playing in the opener at 12 noon. Binghamton and Albany wrap up the
day's action with a 7 p.m. contest at Bearcats Sports Complex.
The
Hawks (0-7) are in still in search of their first win, but have lost
five of those games by two goals or less. Sophomore goalie Lee
Malandrino leads the league with a 7.31 goals against average, while
freshman Aidan Genik ranks among conference leaders in points (18) and
goals (14). Vermont (3-4), which started its season with wins in three
of its first four games, are coming off losses to ranked opponents No.
3 Notre Dame and No. 15 Brown. Senior attack Andrew Kelleher leads
America East with 27 points and is second with 23 goals through seven
games.
The
Retrievers (5-2) have won back to back games over teams that appeared
in the NCAA tournament last season, defeating No. 5 Maryland on March
14 and downing Ohio State on March 21. Ranked seventh in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse and eighth in the USILSA Coaches' Poll, UMBC is third in the
nation in man-up offense, converting 15-of-27 (.556) opportunities to
date. The Seawolves, winners in four of their last four games, have the
nation's fourth leading scorer in sophomore Jordan McBride, who was
named America East Co-Player of the Week along with UMBC's Alex Hopmann
Monday. McBride leads the league and ranks fourth in the nation with
3.29 goals per game.
Albany
(4-2), which is ranked 18th in the Inside Lacrosse Poll and tied for
20th in the USILA Poll, had its four-game win streak snapped by No. 5
Princeton last weekend. The Great Danes lead the league and rank 13th
in the country with 11.33 goals per game while sophomore attack Brian
Caufield is third among national leaders with 4.33 points per contest.
The Bearcats (1-6), who defeated the Great Danes 9-8 in their last meeting in Vestal, is in search of its first win in three games. Brian Donahue and Steve Carlson each had three goals in Binghamton's 12-7 win over Marist on March 7.