Moon Township, Pa.-Senior attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) scored four goals, but visiting UMBC dropped its season opener, 12-9, at Robert Morris (1-1) at Joe Walton Stadium.

In a contest similar to the 2012 season opener, UMBC stayed within striking distance for 60 minutes, but never led in the game.

Retriever freshman midfielder Pat Young (Ewing, N.J./Christchurch (Va.) School) added two goals, junior midfielder Zach Linkous (Jarrettsville, Md./St. Paul’s) posted one goal and one helper and senior attackman Joe Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y./Wading River) added a pair of assists.

Colonial freshman midfielder Eric Rankle led all scorers with five goals and one assist.

The Retrievers fell, 10-8, to Robert Morris at UMBC Stadium to open the 2012 season. UMBC never led, but did even the score at 8-8 early in the fourth quarter. But RMU quickly regained the advantage and held UMBC off the board over the final ten minutes to prevail.

For the second straight year, UMBC was victimized by solid RMU goalkeeping. The Colonials made 16 saves in last year’s contest and RMU netminder Charles Ruppert stopped 13 UMBC shots this afternoon.

UMBC senior goalkeeper Adam Cohen (Arnold, Md./The Severn School) stopped eight shots for the visitors.

The Retrievers outshot RMU, 33-32, including 20-16 in the final 30 minutes. Both teams committed 25 turnovers in below-freezing conditions just outside of Pittsburgh.

Young, getting the start at midfield in his first collegiate game, equalized the game at 1-1 and 2-2 in the first quarter, scoring the second goal at the 7:38 mark. But the Colonials scored twice in a 10-second span late in the first quarter to take a 4-2 lead after 15 minutes.

Jones scored his first goal of the game just 1:18 into the second quarter, but RMU again strung back-to-back scores to take a 6-3 lead late in the stanza. Linkous scored an unassisted goal from the right alley to give UMBC momentum heading to intermission and the deficit reduced to 6-4.

Jones, who recorded his 14^th career hat trick, opened the second half with a score after a 30-second warning at the 12:05 mark. But that goal would be the only time UMBC would string back-to-back scores together in the game.

RMU’s Jacob Ruest and Jones exchanged mid-third quarter scores, but the hosts rattled off a pair of goals in a span of 1:39 late in the third quarter and led, 9-6, after 45 minutes.

UMBC junior face-off specialist Phil Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha) won the opening draw of the fourth quarter and scored five seconds into play. The Retrievers appeared to have momentum as they went on a one-minute, man-up situation moments later, but the game flipped as UMBC failed to capitalize and RMU scored 19 seconds after the penalty expired.

The Retrievers got to within 10-8 and then 11-9 on Jones’ fourth goal with 3:11 remaining, and had a possession to creep closer, but were unable to and the hosts scored into an unguarded net with 29 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

UMBC did win many of the statistical battles, capturing 15 of 25 draws, outdueling RMU, 39-31, on ground balls and clearing 20 of 22 times. But the Retrievers were 0-for-4 on the extra-man in the second half.

Senior Neill Lewnes (Arnold, Md./St. Mary’s) and sophomore LSM Seth Mackin (Davidsonville, Md./South River) led all players with seven and six ground balls respectively.

UMBC opens the home schedule on Sat., Feb. 23 when they host Rutgers at 1:00 p.m.

The UMBC men’s lacrosse team opens its 46^th season of intercollegiate lacrosse on Saturday, Feb. 16 when the Retrievers travel to Moon Township, Pa. to take on host Robert Morris University. The opening face-off is set at Joe Walton Stadium on noon. Links for live stats and video are available via www.umbcretrievers.com.

TOP DOG: Head Coach Don Zimmerman enters his 20^th season at UMBC in 2013. The Retriever mentor stands eighth in victories (213) and 15th in winning percentage (60.7%) amongst active Division I coaches. The win over Binghamton on April 10, 2010 was the 200th in the career of UMBC head coach Don Zimmerman. He is now 213-138 in his 27th year as a collegiate mentor. Zimmerman is the 10th active coach to record 200 victories. He coached his 250th game at UMBC vs. Hartford on May 4, 2011.

Zimmerman’s Records

Career Record:

213-138 (.607) (27th season)

at UMBC: 140-123 (.532) (19th season)

BEASTS OF AMERICA EAST: UMBC is 36-11 in nine years of America East competition and 20-4 at UMBC Stadium. UMBC has never lost back-to-back regular season contests in league play.

In 2012, the Retrievers (3-2 AEC) posted a winning league record and earned a spot in the four-team America East Conference Championships for the ninth consecutive year.

WINNING THE TIGHT ONES: UMBC is now 26-16 in games decided by three goals or less since the beginning of the 2007 season. UMBC had won eight straight overtime decisions from 2007-09 until dropping a Feb. 20, 2010 triple overtime decision to Delaware. UMBC’s previous overtime loss was an 11-10 setback at Penn early in the 2006 season.

In 2012, UMBC was 2-4 in games decided by one or two goals. The Retrievers have won 17 of its last 23 one-goal decisions.

UMBC is now 16-6 in Don Zimmerman’s 19 seasons in overtime and in his career, Coach Zimmerman is 18-8 in extra time in 26 seasons.

HOME, SWEET HOME: UMBC is 37-16 (.698) at home since 2006.

DON’T LOOK BACK: UMBC is now in its 46th season of varsity men’s lacrosse with a record of 338-283 (.544). The Retrievers played their 600th intercollegiate match on March 18, 2012 at Maryland. They are 221-217 (.505) in their 32nd year at the Division I level, achieving win No. 200 vs. Ohio State on March 21, 2009. Before the win over Towson on April 1, 2008, the last time the program was last over the .500 mark at the Division I level was when at the end of its third season (1983) when the record was 19-18.

2012 RANKINGS:

Assists per game                      13^th                   7.15

Man-Up Offense                        14^th                   41.9%

FOR OPENERS: UMBC is exactly even at 7-7 its last 14 opening games. In fact, the Retrievers have rotated wins and losses in openers since 2007. The Retrievers have won three straight times (2006, 2009, 2011) when they opened on the road.

PLAYER NOTES

TEAM CAPTAINS: The UMBC men’s lacrosse team has selected seniors Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox), Neill Lewnes (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) , and Ethan Murphy(West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca East) as its captains for the 2012-13 academic year. Jones and Murphy will serve as team captains for the second consecutive year.

2012 AMERICA EAST ALL-CONFERENCE: Junior attackman Scott Jones and sophomore face-off specialist Phil Poe earned America East Conference First Team honors in a vote of the league’s six head coaches. Two Retrievers- senior defender Aaron Verardi and junior midfielder Scott Hopmann- earned Second Team honors, while freshman A/M Derek Bertolini was selected to the All-Rookie team. Junior defender Ethan Murphy was also honored by earning a selection to the league’s All -Academic squad.

Sixty-six Retrievers have been honored by the America East Conference on all-league teams since 2004.

SR G Adam Cohen was named America East Conference Men’s Lacrosse Player of the Week for games ending Feb. 26, 2012. Cohen scored UMBC’s final goal of the day with 1:39 remaining at Rutgers and it is believed to be the first goal scored by a Retriever goalkeeper in 32 years of NCAA Division I competition.

SR A Scott Jones had hat tricks or better in four of his last six outings of the 2012 season, scoring a total of 18 goals in that span. He had scored in 14 consecutive games (35g-10a-45pts, 3.21 ppg) until being held off the board at Vermont on April 7. Jones had multiple points in 12 of those contests and finished the 2012 season 8th in the nation with 2.77 goals per contest. He now also has 13 career games with three or more goals and is tied for 12^th- most amongst current Division I players.

HELPING HANDS: In 2012, SR A Joe Lustgarten led America East and finished 4th nationally with 2.23 assists per game. He became the 21st player in school history to post 25 assists in a season (29)-the last player to tally 25 or more was Drew Westervelt, who recorded 36 in 2007. Lustgarten has multiple assists in his last nine outings, which is the longest streak in a single season since Steve Marohl, the NCAA record-setter with 77 assists, had multiple helpers in 12 straight in the 1992 campaign.

CROW ABOUT POE: JR face-off specialist Phil Poe won 15 draws (15-6) vs. RMU in the 2012 opener and captured 15 more (15-4) on March 6 vs. No. 4 Maryland. The last Retriever to capture 15 face-offs in a game was Taylor Marino, who garnered 19 in America East Championship victory over Albany on May 3, 2008. Poe attempted all but six draws through 11 games in 2012 and his 320 attempted were 7^th in the nation. His 174 face-off victories are the second-most in school history, behind only Russ LeClair’s 210 wins in 1984.

Poe was named America East Conference Player of the Week for games ending April 21. Poe tied a school record by winning 22 face-offs in the 17-16 overtime victory over Albany. Moreover, his 15 ground balls recorded are the most since Nick Brownlee scooped a school-record 18 vs. VMI in 1997 The 22 face-off wins tied for the sixth-most in a Division I single game in 2012.

Poe’s 87 ground balls on the 2012 season is the most for a Retriever since Nick Brownlee had 108 in 1997. Poe won 14 or more draws in nine of the 13 contests in 2012. He finished 11th in the country with 6.31 ground balls per game.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT: Robert Morris (0-1) led the nation in scoring in 2012, averaging 14.3 goals per game. RMU led the nation in scoring for the third consecutive season, the first time that has occurred since the NCAA began tracking those statistics. The Colonials were selected to finish third in the Northeast Conference (NEC) in 2013, according to a poll of the league’s head coaches. Bryant was tabbed as the preseason favorite, earning the maximum possible five first-place votes, while Mount St. Mary’s slotted in second ahead of RMU.

Robert Morris posted an 11-4 record in 2012, but has lost five of its top seven goal scorers from a season ago. Senior Jake Hayes earned All-NEC First Team honors in 2012 after finishing among the top 10 nationally in both goals per game (2.80) and points per game (4.07). In the opener for both teams, Bellarmine hung on for a 9-8 victory to top Robert Morris at a sunny and chilly Joe Walton Stadium on Feb. 9. SR G Charles Ruppert produced one of the finer outings of his career as he posted 15 saves.

UMBC VS. RMU: The two schools met for the first time on the lacrosse field in the Retrievers’ 2012 opener at UMBC Stadium. UMBC fought from behind the entire game, tied visiting Robert Morris early in the fourth quarter, but never got the lead and fell to the Colonials, 10-8. Jones, Lustgarten and JR M Zach Linkous scored two goals each for UMBC.