BALTIMORE- UMBC exploded for a season-high 19 goals and defeated the visiting Vermont Catamounts, 19-6, in an America East Conference match-up at UMBC Stadium.

The Retrievers improved to 1-1 in league play and 4-6 overall, while Vermont slipped to 3-8, 0-2.

Senior attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) and junior face-off specialist Phil Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha) produced sterling effort for the hosts. Jones scored a career-high six goals and surpassed the 100-point plateau in his tenure, while Poe recorded a school record 23 face-off wins in the resounding victory.

Jones became the 30^th player in school history to record 100 points with 86 goals and 18 assists for 104 points.

The 19 goals scored by UMBC is the most since a 20-11 victory over Vermont in the 2007 season and the 13-goal differential is the most since an 18-5 victory over Mount St. Mary’s in 2001.

Vermont junior attackman Graham Horvath led the visitors with a pair of goals.

After a quiet first five minutes, UMBC erupted for three goals in a two-minute span. Jones scored the Retrievers’ first man-down goal of the year, picking up a loose ball and the midline and beating the Catamount defense down the field to score unassisted at the 5:45 mark. Nearly a minute later, senior attackman Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) whipped a shot past Vermont starting keeper  Justin Rosenberg from eight yards out after receiving a feed from freshman middie Pat Young (Ewing, N.J./Christchurch School). Freshman Nate Lewnes (Arnold, Md./St. Mary’s) capped the sequence by finishing senior midfielder Scott Hopmann’s (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) feed.

UMBC increase the lead to 6-0 after 15 minutes as Gregoire completed a hat trick of his own in the first quarter and junior midfielder Zach Linkous (Jarrettsville, Md./St. Paul’s) added  a goal.

Vermont opened the second quarter with its first score of the game, as Horvath scored 59 seconds into the stanza. But UMBC went on another 6-0 surge to take an insurmountable 12-1 advantage at the break. Jones scored four of those six goals, including the half’s final score with four seconds remaining.

The Retrievers added five goals in the third quarter and led, 17-4, after 45 minutes, before substituting liberally in the final stanza.

UMBC amassed a season high with 45 shots and outshot the Catamounts, 45-27. Retriever sophomore goalkeeper Wes DiRito (Odenton, Md./DeMatha) recorded the win, making six saves, while allowing four goals in 45 minutes. Rosenberg took the loss for Vermont, recording six saves and allowing 12 scores.

Gregoire finished with four goals, while Young contributed a pair of goals and a season-high three assists. Senior midfielder Joe Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) posted a goal and three helpers.

UMBC is now 4-1 at home in 2013 and 21-4 at home in America East regular season play.

The Retrievers travel to New York to face Stony Brook in a league game on Sat., April 13.

The UMBC men’s lacrosse team will face in-state foe Mount St. Mary’s for the first time since 2003 when the Retrievers and Mountaineers tangle at UMBC Stadium on Sat., March 23. It is the final non-conference contest for both squads before America East and Northeast Conference play get underway next weekend. The contest vs. the Mount faces off at 1:05 p.m. All UMBC home lacrosse games are streamed in high definition on www.umbcretrievers.tv.

Both teams are coming off setbacks- UMBC (2-5) fell to Towson, 12-9, on Tuesday evening at UMBC Stadium, while the Mount (4-5) fell, 14-11, at Drexel on Saturday.

Retriever senior attackman Scott Jones is pacing UMBC with 14 goals and 17 total points. But a pair of freshmen, attackman Nate Lewnes and midfielder Pat Young, are coming on strong. Lewnes, the reigning America East Rookie of the Week, has three goals and six assists in his last two outings, while Young posted his first career hat trick and a season-high of four points vs. Towson.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT: Mount St. Mary;s (4-5) has been very strong at home this season, winning four of five contests, including impressive victories over No. 18 Bucknell (12-11, Feb. 17) and Georgetown (14-6, March 12). The Mountaineers have yet to win on the road in 2013, including a 14-11 setback at No. 13 Drexel on March 16. The Mountaineers held a 10-8 lead with 1:47 left in the third quarter on senior attackman Brett Schmidt’s fifth goal of the game, but the Dragons countered by scoring the next five goals of the game en route to the win. The Mount has three 20-goal scorers already in 2013- Schmidt has 22, has now scored a goal in 37 consecutive games, the longest scoring streak in the nation. Senior attackman Andrew Scalley has scored a goal in 18 consecutive games, and now leads the Mount with 51 points on 25 goals and 26 assists this year.

ALL-TIME SERIES: UMBC has won all previous 19 meetings vs. Mount St. Mary’s. The two teams last met in 2003 when the Retrievers won a 16-7 decision in a game played at Johns Hopkins University. The last contest at UMBC Stadium was played in 2001 and the hosts prevailed, 18-5. In between, UMBC won the tightest battle in the series, capturing  7-5 victory in Emmitsburg in 2002.

UP NEXT: UMBC opens its tenth America East Conference season at Hartford on Sat., March 30. The opening draw at Al-Marzook Field takes place at 2:00 p.m.

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.