BALTIMORE- UMBC freshman attackman Nate Lewnes (Arnold, Md./St. Mary’s) tallied a team season-best six points and sophomore netminder Wes DiRito  (Odenton, Md./DeMatha) collected 15 saves in his first home start as the host Retrievers defeated High Point, 16-11, at UMBC Stadium.

UMBC improved to 2-4 on the season, including 2-0 at home, while High Point, in its first year of NCAA Division I varsity competition, fell to 2-6.

UMBC’s special teams were outstanding as the Retrievers scored on all four of its extra-man chances, while denying High Point on all six of the Panthers’ opportunities.

Lewnes scored two goals and added four assists to pace the attack for UMBC. Senior attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) scored three goals for the Retrievers and added a pair of assists. Four Retrievers- freshman Pat Young (Ewing, N.J./Christchurch (Va.), junior Zach Linkous (Jarrettsville, Md./St. Paul’s), senior Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) and junior David Campbell (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park)- each scored two goals for UMBC.

High Point freshman attackmen Dan Lomas and Adam Seal each scored three goals.

The Retrievers had not scored the game’s first goal in 2013, but burst from the gates and took a 4-0 advantage by the 9:03 mark of the first quarter. Campbell opened the scoring on an unassisted goal 4:14 into the proceedings ,getting to the inside and beating HPU netminder Austin Geisler. Lewnes made it 2-0, converting a Zach Linkous feed at the 5:39 mark and Retriever junior face-off specialist Phil Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha) won the ensuing draw and scored six seconds later to push the margin to 3-0. Young capped the run before Panther sophomore attackman Matt Thistle closed the scoring for the quarter with 1:35 remaining.

Thistle’s goal started a 5-2 response by High Point as the visitors cut the Retriever advantage to 6-5 on Lomas’ 20th goal of the season
at the 8:43 mark of the second stanza. But UMBC answered with a 3-0 surge in a span of 2:04 on goals by Campbell, Linkous and Gregoire to take a 9-5 advantage. Lomas scored the final goal of the half with 1:51 to play in the quarter and UMBC took  a9-6 advantage to the locker room .

The Panthers closed to within a pair of goals twice in the third quarter, outscoring the Retrievers, 3-2, in the stanza.

UMBC led, 11-9, after 45 minutes, but scored twice in the first 3:24 of the fourth quarter and added two more in a 34-second span in the
middle of the stanza to take control. Senior attackman Joe Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) caught the High Point defense off-guard and came from behind the net to score a man-up goal 73 seconds into the quarter to give the Retrievers a 12-9 advantage and Jones finished a Young feed to push the advantage to 13-9. Gregoire, Linkous  and Young recorded the final three scores for the Retrievers as the team tallied a season-high in goals.

DiRito made 10 of his 15 saves in the second and fourth quarters. Geisler stopped 10 UMBC shots as the visitors outshot the hosts,
41-35.

Jones scored three or more goals in a game for the 15th time in his career.

UMBC continues its three-game homestand when the squad welcomes Towson to UMBC Stadium on Tuesday evening. The opening face-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

UMBC Men’s Lacrosse
Game 6: UMBC vs. High Point, Sat., March 16, 2013, 1:00 p.m.

UMBC returns home for the first time since Feb. 26 to begin a three-game homestand before America East play begins on March 30. The
Retrievers face High Point (2-5) University on Sat., March 16 in the first of three games in an eight-day span. Don Zimmerman fs squad will welcome local rivals Towson (March 19) and Mount St. Mary’s (March 23) before opening league play at Hartford on March 30. The contest vs. a young, talented Panther squad faces off at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday. All UMBC home lacrosse games are streamed in high definition on www.umbcretrievers.tv.

UMBC is coming off a 13-7 setback at No. 6 Johns Hopkins on Friday evening at Homewood Field. The Retrievers fell behind 5-0 after one quarter before going toe-to-toe with the Blue Jays for the final 45 minutes. In an eleven-day span, UMBC faced No. 4 Loyola (Feb. 26), No. 13 Fairfield, and No. 6 Johns Hopkins (March 8)- all on the road.

Senior attackman Scott Jones leads UMBC with nine goals and ten points scored. Freshman Pat Young posted his second two-goal game vs. Johns Hopkins and has seven goals in 2013. Sophomore Wes DiRito made his first collegiate start against the Blue Jays and went the distance, making nine stops.

TOP DOG: Head Coach Don Zimmerman enters his 20th season at UMBC in 2013. The Retriever mentor stood eighth in victories (213) and 15th in winning percentage (60.7%) amongst active Division I coaches after the 2012 campaign. The win over Binghamton on April 10, 2010 was the 200th in the career of UMBC head coach Don Zimmerman. He is now 214-139 in his 27th year as a collegiate mentor. He coached his 250th game at UMBC vs. Hartford on May 4, 2011.

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 or the 2012-13 academic year. Jones and Murphy will serve as team captains for the second consecutive year.

In addition, senior attackman Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) has been tabbed by the coaching staff as a 2013 team captain.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT: Freshman Dan Lomas scored six goals to lead the High Point University (2-5) men’s lacrosse team to 13-10 win over Michigan in their last action on Wednesday, March 6 at Vert Stadium. Sophomore Matt Thistle added three goals and three assists in the win. Lomas (19g, 2a) and Thistle (10g, 11a) are tied for the team lead with 21 points apiece. Goalkeeper Austin Geisler Tis ranked sixth in the nation with 14.14 saves per game and 13th with a save percentage of 58.2. The first-year program’s other win occurred vs. Towson at Vert Stadium, a 9-7 victory on Feb. 8. Three of their five losses have been by three goals or less to Delaware (12-10), St. Joseph’s (8-5) and Jacksonville (9-8).

ALL-TIME SERIES: This is the first meeting between UMBC and High Point.

NOTE: High Point associate head coach Pat Tracy was an assistant coach at UMBC for four seasons (2008-2011).

UP NEXT: UMBC has a quick turnaround and will play its final mid-week game of the season on Tues., March 19 when they welcome the Towson Tigers to UMBC Stadium. The opening face-off is set for 7:35 p.m.