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.

Game Data

Loyola University Maryland will play for the NCAA Championship for the third time in the school’s 73 seasons of lacrosse history when it takes on the University of Maryland at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 28.

Despite just 30.67 miles (as the crow flies according to DaftLogic.com) separating the campuses, the game will be played 338 miles from Loyola’s campus at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

On The Tube, Web And Radio

The game will be broadcast live on ESPN with Eamon McAnaney and Quint Kessenich calling the action. Paul Carcaterra will be the sideline analyst.

The action can also be seen worldwide on ESPN3, the broadband arm of the ESPN, and on the WatchESPN app on mobile devices.

Westwood One Sports/Dial Global will provide the NCAA Radio Network broadcast of the Championships with Dave Ryan on the play-by-play and Steve Panarelli on analysis. It can be heard on Sirius/XM 91 worldwide. A complete list of stations can be found at dialglobalsports.com.

Series History

Loyola and Maryland will meet for the 21st time in series history – the Terrapins hold an 18-2 lead in the previous 20 games – and the second time in NCAA Championships play. (complete list of games on page six of notes)

The teams have not squared off since Maryland won a 19-8 decision on May 23, 1998, in the NCAA Semifinals at Rutgers University. Monday’s game will be just the third meeting of the teams since 1989 and the third since Loyola joined NCAA Division I in 1982.

Loyola won the initial meeting between the schools, 17-6, on April 6, 1940, but the Terrapins then won 17 in a row before the Greyhounds scored a 10-8 victory on March 19, 1989.

NCAA Championships History

Loyola is making its 20th all-time appearance in the NCAA Championships, 18th at the Division I level. The Greyhounds are 11-19 all-time in Championships play, 11-17 at the Division I level.

Monday’s game will be Loyola third appearance in an NCAA Championship Game and second at the Division I level.

Loyola, with current Head Coach Charley Toomey as the team co-captain and goalkeeper, last played in the title game on May 28, 1990, when Syracuse defeated the Greyhounds, 21-9.

The Greyhounds also took part in the NCAA Division II-III Championship Game on May 17, 1981, when it lost to Adelphi, 17-14.

As an institution, Loyola has won one national title, the 1976 NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer crown.

Five, Twice In A Row

Eric Lusby scored five goals in the NCAA Semifinal against Notre Dame, duplicating a performance he had in the Quarterfinal round against Denver. Lusby is the first Loyola player to score five in consecutive games since Mike Sawyer did it against Bellarmine (March 5) and Duke (March 11) during the 2011 season.

Lusby’s Tournament

Eric Lusby is thus far the leading scorer in this year’s NCAA Tournament, tallying 13 goals and five assists for 18 points. He is three goals shy of tying the tournament record of 16 set in 2006 by Matt Ward and matched in 2007 by Duke’s Zach Greer.

His 13 are tied for seventh all-time. Loyola’s Chris Colbeck scored 14 in the 1990 tournament and is tied for fourth with Paul Rabil (Johns Hopkins, 2008) and Gary Gait (Syracuse, 1988). Gait is also third with 15 in 1990.

He has hat tricks in all three games Loyola has played after scoring three in the First Round against Canisius and five in both sequential games.

Runkel Stops 15

Loyola goalkeeper Jack Runkel set a career-high in the NCAA Semifinals with 15 saves against Notre Dame, setting a career-high. He narrowly eclipsed his previous best of 14 set on April 28 against Johns Hopkins.

The game was Runkel’s seventh this season with 10 or more saves in goal. The others came against Duke (12), at UMBC (13), at Fairfield (12), Johns Hopkins (14), at Denver in the ECAC Semifinals (10) and versus Denver in the Quarterfinals (11).

Runkel has played to a 5.97 goals against average and .622 saves percentage in three NCAA Tournament games.

Defense Limits Chances

Loyola’s defense held Notre Dame to just 28 shots, four below the Fighting Irish’s season average of 32.3 heading into the game, and the Greyhounds’ unit helped goalkeeper Jack Runkel make 15 saves by limiting inside chances.

As a unit, Loyola forced Notre Dame into 14 turnovers, although the team was credited with just seven caused turnovers.

Joe Fletcher caused three of the turnovers and picked up a career-high seven ground balls, while Reid Acton, Scott Ratliff, Josh Hawkins and Runkel each had a caused turnover.

50-50

Eric Lusby and Mike Sawyer became the first duo in Loyola history with 50 goals each in the same season. Sawyer now stands with 51 goals, a Loyola single-season record, while Lusby has 50, tied with Tim Goettelmann for second in season history at the school.

They are two of three players in the NCAA this season to score 50 or more goals, joining Colgate’s Peter Baum (67). Last season, just one player (Robert Morris’ Trevor Moore, 50) had 50 or more.

The last time a pair of Division I teammates had 50 or more goals was 2010 when Duke’s Max Quinzani finished the year with 68, and Zach Howell tallied 51.

And, 60-60

Lusby and Sawyer are also the only Loyola players to reach 60 points in the same season.

With his six-point effort on Saturday afternoon, Lusby set the school Division I record for points in a season with 67, eclipsing the 66 (29g, 37a) Brian Duffy had during the 1995 season.

Gary Hanley has the top three points marks in school history with 89 in 1981, 86 in 1980 and 83 in 1979 when Loyola played Division II lacrosse.

Seven Earn All-America Honors

Attacker Mike Sawyer was named to the USILA All-America Second Team, and long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff earned Third Team honors earlier this week from the coaches’ association.

Five other Greyhounds – attacker Eric Lusby, midfielders Davis Butts and Josh Hawkins and defenders Reid Acton and Joe Fletcher – received honorable mention.

The seven honorees are the most for Loyola since seven received plaudits following the 1999 season. Sawyer and Ratliff are also the first Loyola players to receive All-America nods other than honorable mention since Gavin Prout was a first teamer in 2001.

Sawyer Sets Goals Record

Mike Sawyer scored the first goal of Loyola’s NCAA Quarterfinal game against Denver and broke the school single-season record for goals in the process.

Sawyer now has 51 goals this season, breaking the previous best of 50 set by Tim Goettelmann in 2000. Goettelmann went on to become Major League Lacrosse’s all-time leading goal scorer.

Earlier this season, against Hobart, he became the first Loyola player to reach 40 goals in a season since Tim Goettelmann and Gavin Prout scored 50 and 41, respectively, in 2000. They are the only three Loyola players to top 40 this century.

In the ECAC Semifinal against Denver, Sawyer pushed his season point total to 50, a number that is now at 60, making him the first Greyhound to reach 50 in a season since Prout had 58 (37g, 21a) in 2001. It is the fourth time this century that a Loyola player has scored 50 or more points in a season. Goettelmann (65) and Prout (53) both reached the mark in 2000, and Prout did it again the following season. Sawyer’s teammate, Eric Lusby, has since joined him with more than 50 points (more later).

Three-For-Three

Loyola completed a three-game sweep of Denver with its 10-9 NCAA Quarterfinal victory last Saturday, marking the first time in school history the Greyhounds had ever played a team three times in a season.

It is the third time a team has beaten another three times in a season (thanks to Patrick Stevens of The Washington Times for the research). Loyola joins the 1992 Maryland (vs. Duke), 2007 Duke (vs. North Carolina) and 2009 Duke (vs. North Carolina) teams to have accomplished the feat.

Sawyer, Lusby Form Rare Tandem

Graduate student Eric Lusby and junior Mike Sawyer have formed the top attack tandem in the nation this season, combining for 101 goals in 18 games this season, an average of 5.61 per game.

Sawyer has scored 51 goals, and his 2.83 goals per game average is sixth-best in Division I. Lusby, meanwhile is right behind with 50 goals and a 2.78 goals per game mark, a number that is eighth in the country. Loyola is the only school to have two players in top 10 nationally.

The Greyhounds have not had two players score 40 or more goals in the same season since 2000 when Tim Goettelmann set the school single-season record with 50, and Gavin Prout tallied 41. As a side note, the Goettelmann-Prout duo has gone on to highly successful professional careers. Goettelman recently retired from Major League Lacrosse as the league’s all-time leading scorer with 268 goals in 11 seasons. Prout has been an MLL Champion and has scored 314 National Lacrosse League goals to go with 625 assists as a multiple-time all-star.

The duo is now the top goal-scoring tandem in Loyola single-season history, eclipsing the performance in 2000 by Goettelmann and Prout.

A Lot Of Everything

The adage that a player does a little bit of everything does not necessarily apply to long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff. The Loyola junior does a lot, as he leads the team in ground balls (83) and caused turnovers (35), is fifth in goals (12) and is seventh in assists (7). His 34 caused turnovers are second-most in Loyola history – behind P.T. Ricci’s 51 in 2009 – since the stats became official that year.

A Tewaaraton Award nominee earlier in the year, Ratliff was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECAC Championships after scoring three goals, one a game-winner, and recording two assists and 16 ground balls.

He had two goals, including the winner just eight seconds into overtime, and an assist versus Denver while picking up a career-high nine ground balls.

Ratliff, who was also an All-ECAC First Team honoree and ECAC Defensive Player of the Year, then scored twice in the first quarter against Canisius to go along with six ground balls and three faceoff wins in the game.

Ratliff’s Scoring

Scott Ratliff had his third multi-goal game of the season in the NCAA First Round against Canisius, and he then added a goal in the Quarterfinal against Denver, raising his season totals to 12 goals and seven assists.

With his game-opening goal against the Golden Griffins, he set the Loyola single-season record for long-pole scoring, surpassing the record of 16 points set by current assistant coach Matt Dwan his senior season in 1995 when he tallied 11 goals and five assists and earned All-America honors.

Ratliff is second nationally this season in goals and points by a long pole, and his seven assists are tops in the country. Bryant’s Mason Poli leads all long poles this year with 19 goals and 24 points.

Ward Dishes Out Assists

Justin Ward was credited an assist on an Eric Lusby goal against Notre Dame raising his season total to 31, and his 1.72 assists per game are 21st nationally. Those numbers are tops among the players on the four teams in the NCAA Semifinals.

Ward is the first Loyola player this century to reach 30 assists, and his total is the most since Brian Duffy had 34 in 1996.

Top Spot

Loyola entered the NCAA Championships as the No. 1 seed for the third time in school history. The Greyhounds were also the top seed in 1998 when they defeated Georgetown, 12-11, in the Quarterfinals to move on to the Final Four for the second time in school history. There, the Greyhounds lost, 19-8, to Maryland. They were then the No. 1 seed in 1999 when they fell in the Quarterfinals to Syracuse, 17-12.

School Record In Wins

Loyola’s victory over Notre Dame in the NCAA Semifinals was its 17th of the season, setting a school record for victories in a year. The Greyhounds eclipsed the previous best of 13 that the 1998 squad achieved with a 13-2 record.

This is Loyola’s 15th season all-time with 10 or more wins with 12 coming since the Greyhounds joined Division I in 1982.

The Hardware Department

In the span of seven days, three teams in Loyola’s Department of Athletics advanced to their respective NCAA Championships by winning titles in three different conferences.

The men’s golf team started the trend with its fifth-straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference crown on April 29, and the men’s lacrosse team followed by taking the ECAC title on May 4. The women’s lacrosse team completed the trifecta on May 5 when it defeated then-No. 2 Syracuse to win its second-straight BIG EAST Championship. Also, in March, Loyola’s men’s basketball team won its first MAAC title in 18 years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.

Sawyer Named One Of Five Tewaaraton Finalists

Mike Sawyer was named one of five Tewaaraton Award finalists on Thursday, joining Colgate A Peter Baum, Duke LSM C.J. Costabile, Massachusetts A Will Manny and Virginia A Steele Stanwick.

Sawyer is the first Loyola men’s player to be named a finalist, and he is also the first player from to hail the State of North Carolina to be so honored. He was one of three Greyhounds on the Tewaaraton Watch List where he was joined by Eric Lusby and Scott Ratliff, and Ratliff was a fellow semifinalist. The Award, which is given annually to the top player in college lacrosse, will be presented on May 31 at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Midfield Scoring

Loyola’s first midfield line of Davis Butts (20g, 33p), Sean O’Sullivan (16, 27) and Chris Layne (11, 22) has combined for 47 goals and 35 assists this season, while the second midfield unit of Pat Byrnes (9, 7), J.P. Dalton (9, 4) and Phil Dobson (7, 2) has added 25 and 13. Additionally, Nikko Pontrello has started to mix in with the second midfield, allowing Loyola’s attackers the opportunity to invert, and he has four goals and six assists.

Twelve In A Row Ties Mark

Loyola’s 12-straight to start the season tied the school record for consecutive victories, matching the number put up by the 1998 (3/14-3/17) and 1999 (3/6-3/8).

It also matched the best start to a season, equaling the 1999 team that finished the regular-season unblemished at 12-0.

Toomey Tabbed ECAC Coach Of The Year

Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey was named the ECAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his seven-year career. This season, Toomey has guided the Greyhounds to a 17-1 mark during the regular-season and the ECAC regular-season crown with a 6-0 mark in conference play. The NCAA Championship Game will be Toomey’s 100th as a head coach.

The Greyhounds became the second team in USILA Coaches Poll history to start a season unranked and ascend to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. The only other team was Duke in 2007 – a year after the Blue Devils had their season suspended in March – which accomplished the feat after being unranked in the first poll, moving to second in the next version and first in the third. Duke was knocked from its perch as No. 1 that season when it lost to the Greyhounds at the First Four in San Diego.

The win over Canisius in the First Round was the 60th victory of his coaching career, becoming the fourth coach in Loyola history to win 60 or more – Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001), Charles Wenzel (62-104, 1954-1970), Jay Connor (61-46, 1975-1982).  Toomey’s .626 winning percentage trails only Cottle’s .721 at Loyola.

All-ECAC Honors

Five Loyola players earned All-ECAC Lacrosse League honors form the conference’s coaches. Long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff, who was also named ECAC Defensive Player of the Year, earned a spot as a defender on the First Team, where he was joined by Mike Sawyer on attack and Davis Butts in the midfield.

Sawyer led the ECAC during the regular-season, and is now second nationally, in goals (51). Butts has scored 20 goals and assisted on 13 from the Greyhounds first midfield line while also regularly playing a role on the wings during face-offs with 39 ground balls.

Attack Eric Lusby and defender Joe Fletcher were tabbed to the All-ECAC Second Team. Lusby is second on the team and is third nationally with 50 goals, and he also has 17 assists this season. Fletcher came on as one of the top lock-down defenders around, earning Midseason All-American honors from Inside Lacrosse last month. He has 39 ground balls and 25 caused turnovers entering the NCAA title game.

Big Runs

Loyola used runs of three-plus goals at important junctures of its 18 games, helping the Greyhounds to wins each time. In all, Loyola has scored three or more in a row on 36 occasions this season.

Loyola scored the first four goals of the ECAC Semifinal game against Denver and then tallied three-straight after the Pioneers pulled within 4-2. The Greyhounds then reeled off five in a row during the third quarter to take a 13-6 lead.

The Greyhounds used two 3-0 runs against Notre Dame in the NCAA Semifinal to advance to the title game.

On The Flip Side

Conversely, the Greyhounds have allowed a run of three or more goals just 12 times this year, with the most recent coming when Canisius scored three in the second quarter. Only Denver (seven in ECAC Semifinal), Johns Hopkins (five), Fairfield (five), Air Force (four) have scored more than three in a row this year.

Second-Half Success

The Greyhounds have now outscored opponents 65-22 in the third quarters of games and 119-63 overall this year in the second half (including overtime).

The second-half scoring continues a trend from the last two seasons. Last year, Loyola outscored opponents, 69-52, after halftime (including two overtime goals), and 77-56 two years ago.

Game Data

Loyola University Maryland will make its third appearance in the NCAA Semifinals on Saturday, May 26, 2012, when it takes on the University of Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m.

The team will faceoff on the field at Gillette Stadium, home of the National Football League’s New England Patriots, in Foxborough, Mass. The winner of the game will face the winner of the other national semifinal between Duke and Maryland.

On The Tube, Web And Radio

The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 with Eamon McAnaney and Quint Kessenich calling the action. Paul Carcaterra will be the sideline analyst.

The action can also be seen worldwide on ESPN3, the broadband arm of the ESPN, and on the WatchESPN app on mobile devices.

Westwood One Sports/Dial Global will provide the NCAA Radio Network broadcast of the Championships with Dave Ryan on the play-by-play and Steve Panarelli on analysis. It can be heard on Sirius/XM 91 worldwide. A complete list of stations can be found at dialglobalsports.com.

Series History

Loyola and Notre Dame will meet for the 20th time in series history on Saturday and the third time in NCAA Championships play. Loyola holds a 13-6 advantage in the all-time series, but the Fighting Irish have won the last four meetings and six of the last nine. (Complete series history on page six of the notes)

The teams last played on March 6, 2010, in another NFL stadium. They met at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, home of the Ravens, in the Konica-Minolta Face-Off Classic where Notre Dame came away with an 11-9 victory. In all, this will mark the third time the teams have played in an NFL venue. They also faced off in the 1998 IKON Classic at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, former home of the Baltimore Colts.

The last seven meetings in the series have been decided by a total of nine goals with five of the games coming down to a one-goal difference.

Loyola and Notre Dame have played twice in the NCAA Championships, both in the first round, and each team has been the victor once. The Fighting Irish defeated the Greyhounds, 15-12, in Baltimore in the 2000 First Round, and Loyola was a 21-5 first-round winner in 1997.

NCAA Championships History

Loyola is making its 20th all-time appearance in the NCAA Championships, 18th at the Division I level. The Greyhounds are 10-19 all-time in Championships play, 10-17 at the Division I level.

Saturday’s game will be the Greyhounds third appearance in the NCAA Semifinals, first since 1998 when then lost 19-8 to Maryland in Piscataway, N.J. Loyola is 1-1 in NCAA Semifinal games having defeated Yale, 14-13 in overtime, in 1990 to advance to the title game.

Sawyer Sets Goals Record

Mike Sawyer scored the first goal of Loyola’s NCAA Quarterfinal game last Saturday and broke the school single-season record for goals in the process.

Sawyer now has 51 goals this season, breaking the previous best of 50 set by Tim Goettelmann in 2000. Goettelmann went on to become Major League Lacrosse’s all-time leading goal scorer.

Earlier this season, against Hobart, he became the first Loyola player to reach 40 goals in a season since Tim Goettelmann and Gavin Prout scored 50 and 41, respectively, in 2000. They are the only three Loyola players to top 40 this century.

In the ECAC Semifinal against Denver, Sawyer pushed his season point total to 50, a number that is now at 59, making him the first Greyhound to reach 50 in a season since Prout had 58 (37g, 21a) in 2001. It is the fourth time this century that a Loyola player has scored 50 or more points in a season. Goettelmann (65) and Prout (53) both reached the mark in 2000, and Prout did it again the following season. Sawyer’s teammate, Eric Lusby, has since joined him with more than 50 points (more later).

Lusby Right Behind After 5-Goal Game

After tying his career-high with five goals in the Greyhounds 10-9 victory over Denver, Eric Lusby leads the team with 61 points and is not far behind Mike Sawyer in the goals column with 45.

Lusby recorded a career-high seven points in the win over the Pioneers and was involved in all but three of the Greyhounds goals after recording two assists. He scored back-to-back goals twice, once during the second quarter and again in the third.

Three-For-Three

Loyola completed a three-game sweep of Denver with its 10-9 NCAA Quarterfinal victory last Saturday, marking the first time in school history the Greyhounds had ever played a team three times in a season.

It is the third time a team has beaten another three times in a season (thanks to Patrick Stevens of The Washington Times for the research). Loyola joins the 1992 Maryland (vs. Duke), 2007 Duke (vs. North Carolina) and 2009 Duke (vs. North Carolina) teams to have accomplished the feat.

Faceoff Turnaround

Loyola’s J.P. Dalton dominated the faceoff ‘X’ on Saturday against Denver, winning 17-of-22 (.772) against Denver’s Chase Carraro. It was a vast departure from the first two times the teams squared off where the Pioneers went a combined 30-of-45 (.667).

In the regular-season meeting between the teams, Carraro was 13-of-14 at the X, and he went 16-of 29 against the Greyhounds in the ECAC Semifinal game.

Dalton’s 17 wins were one off his career-high set earlier this season against Air Force.

Sawyer, Lusby Form Rare Tandem

Graduate student Eric Lusby and junior Mike Sawyer have formed the top attack tandem in the nation this season, combining for 96 goals in 17 games this season, an average of 5.65 per game.

Sawyer has scored 51 goals, and his 3.0 goals per game average is third-best in Division I. Lusby, meanwhile is right behind with 45 goals and a 2.65 goals per game mark, a number that is 11th in the country. Loyola is one of two schools to have two players in the top 11 of goals per game nationally (Robert Morris).

The Greyhounds have not had two players score 40 or more goals in the same season since 2000 when Tim Goettelmann set the school single-season record with 50, and Gavin Prout tallied 41. As a side note, the Goettelmann-Prout duo has gone on to highly successful professional careers. Goettelman recently retired from Major League Lacrosse as the league’s all-time leading scorer with 268 goals in 11 seasons. Prout has been an MLL Champion and has scored 314 National Lacrosse League goals to go with 625 assists as a multiple-time all-star.

The duo is now the top goal-scoring tandem in Loyola single-season history, eclipsing the performance in 2000 by Goettelmann and Prout.

Two Over 40/50

Mike Sawyer (51g, 59p) and Eric Lusby (45g, 62p) became the first set of Loyola teammates to score 40 goals and 50 points in a season since Tim Goettelmann (50, 65) and Gavin Prout (41, 53) accomplished the feat in 2000.

They are one of only two duos in the nation this year – Robert Morris’ Kiel Matisz (40, 64) and Jake Hayes (42, 61) are the other – to post 40 and 50.

A Lot Of Everything

The adage that a player does a little bit of everything does not necessarily apply to long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff. The Loyola junior does a lot, as he leads the team in ground balls (79) and caused turnovers (34), is fifth in goals (12) and is seventh in assists (7). His 34 caused turnovers are second-most in Loyola history – behind P.T. Ricci’s 51 in 2009 – since the stats became official in 2008.

A Tewaaraton Award nominee earlier in the year, Ratliff was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECAC Championships after scoring three goals, one a game-winner, and recording two assists and 16 ground balls.

He had two goals, including the winner just eight seconds into overtime, and an assist versus Denver while picking up a career-high nine ground balls.

Ratliff, who was also an All-ECAC First Team honoree and ECAC Defensive Player of the Year, then scored twice in the first quarter against Canisius to go along with six ground balls and three faceoff wins in the game.

Ratliff’s Scoring

Scott Ratliff had his third multi-goal game of the season in the NCAA First Round against Canisius, and he then added a goal in the Quarterfinal against Denver, raising his season totals to 12 goals and seven assists.

With his game-opening goal against the Golden Griffins, he set the Loyola single-season record for long-pole scoring, surpassing the record of 16 points set by current assistant coach Matt Dwan his senior season in 1995 when he tallied 11 goals and five assists and earned All-America honors.

Ratliff is second nationally this season in goals and points by a long pole, and his seven assists are tops in the country. Bryant’s Mason Poli leads all long poles this year with 19 goals and 24 points.

Ward Dishes Out Assists

Justin Ward was credited with two assists in the NCAA Quarterfinal against Denver, raising his season total to 30, and his 1.76 assists per game are now tied for 19th nationally. Those numbers are tops among the remaining players on the four teams in the NCAA Semifinals.

Ward is the first Loyola player this century to reach 30 assists, and his total is the most since Brian Duffy had 34 in 1996.

NCAA Semifinals Connections

Kevin Ryan’s family will have a rare connection to Loyola’s place in the NCAA Semifinals historically after this weekend. Ryan, who scored an EMO goal in the Quarterfinals against Denver, is the cousin of Sean Quinn and Kevin Quinn who played on Loyola’s semifinal teams in 1990 and 1998, respectively. Sean was a starting defender on the 1990 team, and Kevin a midfielder on the 1998 team.

Phil Dobson, a Loyola midfielder, will face his older brother, Devon, for the first time on a collegiate lacrosse field. Devon is a defensive midfielder for the Fighting Irish.

Top Spot

Loyola entered the NCAA Championships as the No. 1 seed for the third time in school history. The Greyhounds were also the top seed in 1998 when they defeated Georgetown, 12-11, in the Quarterfinals to move on to the Final Four for the second time in school history. There, the Greyhounds lost, 19-8, to Maryland. They were then the No. 1 seed in 1999 when they fell in the Quarterfinals to Syracuse, 17-12.

School Record In Wins

Loyola’s victory over Denver in the NCAA Quarterfinals was its 16th of the season, setting a school record for victories in a year. The Greyhounds eclipsed the previous best of 13 that the 1998 squad achieved with a 13-2 record.

This is Loyola’s 15th season all-time with 10 or more wins with 12 coming since the Greyhounds joined Division I in 1982.

Second-Half Run

Loyola used 13 unanswered goals to break open a 4-3 halftime lead against Canisius in a 17-5 victory over the Golden Griffins in the NCAA Championships First Round.

The Greyhounds took a 4-0 lead in the first quarter before Canisius scored three unanswered in the second. Mike Sawyer corralled a rebound of an Eric Lusby shot off the pipe and scored 1:20 into the second quarter to start the run. During the stretch, Sawyer scored all five of his goals, and Lusby had two of his three.

The run was the second longest in the brief, three-year history of Ridley Athletic Complex. Only a 14-0 run to start the game on March 20, 2010, against Air Force had more goals.

The Hardware Department

In the span of seven days, three teams in Loyola’s Department of Athletics advanced to their respective NCAA Championships by winning titles in three different conferences.

The men’s golf team started the trend with its fifth-straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference crown on April 29, and the men’s lacrosse team followed by taking the ECAC title on May 4. The women’s lacrosse team completed the trifecta on May 5 when it defeated then-No. 2 Syracuse to win its second-straight BIG EAST Championship. Also, in March, Loyola’s men’s basketball team won its first MAAC title in 18 years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.

Sawyer Named One Of Five Tewaaraton Finalists

Mike Sawyer was named one of five Tewaaraton Award finalists on Thursday, joining Colgate A Peter Baum, Duke LSM C.J. Costabile, Massachusetts A Will Manny and Virginia A Steele Stanwick.

Sawyer is the first Loyola men’s player to be named a finalist, and he is also the first player from to hail the State of North Carolina to be so honored. He was one of three Greyhounds on the Tewaaraton Watch List where he was joined by Eric Lusby and Scott Ratliff, and Ratliff was a fellow semifinalist. The Award, which is given annually to the top player in college lacrosse, will be presented on May 31 at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Midfield Scoring

Loyola’s first midfield line of Davis Butts (19g, 32p), Sean O’Sullivan (16, 27) and Chris Layne (11, 21) has combined for 46 goals and 34 assists this season, while the second midfield unit of Pat Byrnes (9, 7), J.P. Dalton (9, 4) and Phil Dobson (7, 2) has added 25 and 13. Additionally, Nikko Pontrello has started to mix in with the second midfield, allowing Loyola’s attackers the opportunity to invert, and he has four goals and six assists.

Spreading Out The Scoring Wealth

Loyola’s first 11 goals against Denver in the ECAC Semifinal night were scored by 11 different players. Eric Lusby, Phil Dobson and Scott Ratliff finished the game with two goals, and eight others had one.

All three members of the Greyhounds’ first midfield – Davis Butts, Chris Layne and Sean O’Sullivan – scored goals. They received four goals from the four players who make up the second midfield line – Dobson (2), Pat Byrnes and Nikko Pontrello (J.P. Dalton did not score). Extra-man attackman Kevin Ryan scored, and two of the team’s three attackmen – Mike Sawyer and Lusby (2) – recorded goals. Ratliff scored twice in transition, and short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Hawkins added one. The Greyhounds’ other attack player, Justin Ward, did not score but had a game-high three assists.

In the title game, 10 different players scored for Loyola with all three attackers scoring and two of three from the first midfield like tallying goals.

Twelve In A Row Ties Mark

Loyola’s 12-straight to start the season tied the school record for consecutive victories, matching the number put up by the 1998 (3/14-3/17) and 1999 (3/6-3/8).

It also matched the best start to a season, equaling the 1999 team that finished the regular-season unblemished at 12-0.

Toomey Tabbed ECAC Coach Of The Year

Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey was named the ECAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his seven-year career. This season, Toomey has guided the Greyhounds to a 16-1 mark during the regular-season and the ECAC regular-season crown with a 6-0 mark in conference play.

The Greyhounds became the second team in USILA Coaches Poll history to start a season unranked and ascend to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. The only other team was Duke in 2007 – a year after the Blue Devils had their season suspended in March – which accomplished the feat after being unranked in the first poll, moving to second in the next version and first in the third. Duke was knocked from its perch as No. 1 that season when it lost to the Greyhounds at the First Four in San Diego.

The win over Denver in the Quarterfinals was the 60th victory of his coaching career, becoming the fourth coach in Loyola history to win 60 or more – Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001), Charles Wenzel (62-104, 1954-1970), Jay Connor (61-46, 1975-1982).  Toomey’s .619 winning percentage trails only Cottle’s .721 at Loyola.

All-ECAC Honors

Five Loyola players earned All-ECAC Lacrosse League honors form the conference’s coaches. Long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff, who was also named ECAC Defensive Player of the Year, earned a spot as a defender on the First Team, where he was joined by Mike Sawyer on attack and Davis Butts in the midfield.

Sawyer led the ECAC during the regular-season, and is now third nationally, in goals (51) and goals per game (3.0). Butts has scored 19 goals and assisted on 13 from the Greyhounds first midfield line while also regularly playing a role on the wings during face-offs with 38 ground balls.

Attack Eric Lusby and defender Joe Fletcher were tabbed to the All-ECAC Second Team. Lusby is second on the team and is 11th nationally with 45 goals (2.68 per game), and he also has 16 assists this season. Fletcher came on as one of the top lock-down defenders around, earning Midseason All-American honors from Inside Lacrosse last month. He has 32 ground balls and 22 caused turnovers entering the NCAA Quarterfinals.

Big Runs

Loyola used runs of three-plus goals at important junctures of its 17 games, helping the Greyhounds to wins each time. In all, Loyola has scored three or more in a row on 34 occasions this season.

Loyola scored the first four goals of the ECAC Semifinal game against Denver and then tallied three-straight after the Pioneers pulled within 4-2. The Greyhounds then reeled off five in a row during the third quarter to take a 13-6 lead.

In the ECAC title game, Loyola used an 8-1 run that was comprised of runs of 3-0 and 5-0 to take control of the game.

On The Flip Side

Conversely, the Greyhounds have allowed a run of three or more goals just 12 times this year, with the most recent coming when Canisius scored three in the second quarter. Only Denver (seven in ECAC Semifinal), Johns Hopkins (five), Fairfield (five), Air Force (four) have scored more than three in a row this year.

On The EMO

This season, the Greyhounds are ranked second in the nation in man-up offense, scoring 48-percent of the time (24-of-50). Only Lehigh (.553) has a better mark this year. Loyola dropped below 50-percent for the first time this year by going 4-of-10 in the game against Denver.

The last time Loyola finished at or above .500 in man-up offense was in 1997 when it converted 39-of-77 (.506).

Second-Half Success

The Greyhounds have now outscored opponents 63-22 in the third quarters of games and 117-61 overall this year in the second half (including overtime).

The second-half scoring continues a trend from the last two seasons. Last year, Loyola outscored opponents, 69-52, after halftime (including two overtime goals), and 77-56 two years ago.

Game Data

Loyola University Maryland travels to nearby Annapolis, Md., and Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for the NCAA Quarterfinals on Saturday, May 19, 2012.

The top-seeded Greyhounds will face fellow ECAC Lacrosse League member University of Denver for the third time this season at 2:30 p.m.

On The Tube And Web

The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 with Eamon McAnaney and Quint Kessenich calling the action. Paul Carcaterra will be the sideline analyst.

The action can also be seen worldwide on ESPN3, the broadband arm of the ESPN, and on the WatchESPN app on mobile devices.

Series History

Loyola and Denver will meet for the fifth time in series history and third time this season when the teams take the field Saturday. The Greyhounds and Pioneers have met during the regular-season in each of the last three seasons and then earlier this month in an ECAC Semifinal. The series is tied 2-2 through the first four meetings.

Denver won the first two meetings, 12-4 at Invesco Field in 2010 and 12-8 last year at Ridley Athletic Complex.

This season, Loyola used a 5-1 run to close the game, overcoming an 8-7 third-quarter deficit on April 14 in Denver to beat the Pioneers, 12-9.

The teams met again with Loyola as the No. 1 seed, and Denver the fourth, in the ECAC Semifinals on May 2, again in Denver. Loyola opened up a 13-6 lead with 13:14 left in regulation before the Pioneers scored seven-straight to tie the game at 13-13 with 3:30 remaining on the clock. Scott Ratliff picked up the ground ball to start overtime, and he scored eight seconds later, lifting Loyola to the ECAC title game.

NCAA Championships History

Loyola is making its 20th all-time appearance in the NCAA Championships, 18th at the Division I level. The Greyhounds are 9-19 all-time in Championships play, 9-17 at the Division I level.

The Greyhounds are making their 13th NCAA Quarterfinals appearance and the first since 2001. They are 2-10 in Quarterfinal games with their last victory in the round coming in 1998 against Georgetown in a 12-11 decision.

NCAA Rematches

Saturday will be the first time in Loyola men’s lacrosse history (since 1938) that the Greyhounds will have played the same team three times in the same season.

A rematch with a regular-season opponent in the NCAA Championships is not unusual for Loyola. It will be the 12th time that the Greyhounds have faced a team in the NCAAs that they played earlier in the year. Including a game in the 1979 Division II-III Tournament, Loyola is 2-9 in those games. The last time it happened, Duke defeated the Greyhounds, 12-7, in the 2008 First Round.

This Season Against Denver

Loyola has featured balanced scoring in its two games against Denver with 13 players tallying goals in the two games and eight scoring two or more. Mike Sawyer and Eric Lusby lead the way with four goals each, while Scott Ratliff has three. Davis Butts, Pat Byrnes, Sean O’Sullivan, Phil Dobson and Nikko Pontrello each have scored two against the Pioneers this year. Justin Ward is tops on Loyola with four assists in the two games.

Top Spot

Loyola entered the NCAA Championships as the No. 1 seed for the third time in school history. The Greyhounds were also the top seed in 1998 when they defeated Georgetown, 12-11, in the Quarterfinals to move on to the Final Four for the second time in school history. There, the Greyhounds lost, 19-8, to Maryland. They were then the No. 1 seed in 1999 when they fell in the Quarterfinals to Syracuse, 17-12.

School Record In Wins

Loyola’s victory over Canisius in the NCAA Championships First Round was its 15th of the season, setting a school record for victories in a year. The Greyhounds eclipsed the previous best of 13 that the 1998 squad achieved with a 13-2 record.

This is Loyola’s 15th season all-time with 10 or more wins with 12 coming since the Greyhounds joined Division I in 1982.

In The Polls

Loyola moved up to No. 2 in both the USILA Coaches and Inside Lacrosse Media Polls following their ECAC Championship. The Greyhounds were ranked No. 1 for two weeks before losing their only game of the season on April 28 to Johns Hopkins.

The Greyhounds finished the regular-season with the No. 1 RPI in the NCAA, as well.

Denver entered the NCAAs 13th in both versions.

Second-Half Run

Loyola used 13 unanswered goals to break open a 4-3 halftime lead against Canisius last Saturday in a 17-5 victory over the Golden Griffins in the NCAA Championships First Round.

The Greyhounds took a 4-0 lead in the first quarter before Canisius scored three unanswered in the second. Mike Sawyer corralled a rebound of an Eric Lusby shot off the pipe and scored 1:20 into the second quarter to start the run. During the stretch, Sawyer scored all five of his goals, and Lusby had two of his three.

The run was the second longest in the brief, three-year history of Ridley Athletic Complex. Only a 14-0 run to start the game on March 20, 2010, against Air Force had more goals.

Sawyer Ties Single-Season Record

Mike Sawyer scored five times in the game against Canisius – his fourth game in 2012 with five or more goals – raising his season total to 50 goals to match the 2000 school record set by Tim Goettelmann. Goettelmann went on to become Major League Lacrosse’s all-time leading goal scorer.

Earlier this season, against Hobart, he became the first Loyola player to reach 40 goals in a season since Tim Goettelmann and Gavin Prout scored 50 and 41, respectively, in 2000. They are the only three Loyola players to top 40 this century.

In the ECAC Semifinal against Denver, Sawyer pushed his season point total to 50, a number that is now at 53, making him the first Greyhound to reach 50 in a season since Prout had 58 (37g, 21a) in 2001. It is the fourth time this century that a Loyola player has scored 50 or more points in a season. Goettelmann (65) and Prout (53) both reached the mark in 2000, and Prout did it again the following season. Sawyer’s teammate, Eric Lusby, has since joined him with more than 50 points (more later).

Two Over 40/50

Mike Sawyer (50g, 58p) and Eric Lusby (40g, 54p) became the first set of Loyola teammates to score 40 goals and 50 points in a season since Tim Goettelmann (50, 65) and Gavin Prout (41, 53) accomplished the feat in 2000.

They are one of only two duos in the nation this year – Robert Morris’ Kiel Matisz (40, 64) and Jake Hayes (42, 61) are the other – to post 40 and 50.

A Lot Of Everything

The adage that a player does a little bit of everything does not necessarily apply to long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff. The Loyola junior does a lot, as he leads the team in ground balls (74) and caused turnovers (34), is tied for sixth in goals (11) and is seventh in assists (7).

A Tewaaraton Award nominee earlier in the year, Ratliff was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECAC Championships after scoring three goals, one a game-winner, and recording two assists and 16 ground balls.

He had two goals, including the winner just eight seconds into overtime, and an assist versus Denver while picking up a career-high nine ground balls.

Ratliff, who was also an All-ECAC First Team honoree and ECAC Defensive Player of the Year, then scored twice in the first quarter against Canisius to go along with six ground balls and three faceoff wins in the game.

Ratliff’s Scoring

Scott Ratliff had his third multi-goal game of the season in the NCAA First Round against Canisius, raising his season totals to 11 goals and seven assists.

With his game-opening goal against the Golden Griffins, he set the Loyola single-season record for long-pole scoring, surpassing the record of 16 points set by current assistant coach Matt Dwan his senior season in 1995 when he tallied 11 goals and five assists and earned All-America honors.

Ratliff and Dwan are now tied for the lead with 11 goals each.

Ratliff is second nationally this season in goals and points by a long pole, and his seven assists are tops in the country. Bryant’s Mason Poli leads all long poles this year with 19 goals and 24 points.

The Hardware Department

In the span of seven days, three teams in Loyola’s Department of Athletics advanced to their respective NCAA Championships by winning titles in three different conferences.

The men’s golf team started the trend with its fifth-straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference crown on April 29, and the men’s lacrosse team followed by taking the ECAC title on May 4. The women’s lacrosse team completed the trifecta on May 5 when it defeated then-No. 2 Syracuse to win its second-straight BIG EAST Championship. Also, in March, Loyola’s men’s basketball team won its first MAAC title in 18 years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.

Sawyer Named One Of Five Tewaaraton Finalists

Mike Sawyer was named one of five Tewaaraton Award finalists on Thursday, joining Colgate A Peter Baum, Duke LSM C.J. Costabile, Massachusetts A Will Manny and Virginia A Steele Stanwick.

Sawyer is the first Loyola men’s player to be named a finalist, and he is also the first player from to hail the State of North Carolina to be so honored. He was one of three Greyhounds on the Tewaaraton Watch List where he was joined by Eric Lusby and Scott Ratliff, and Ratliff was a fellow semifinalist. The Award, which is given annually to the top player in college lacrosse, will be presented on May 31 at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Midfield Scoring

Loyola’s first midfield line of Davis Butts (18g, 30p), Sean O’Sullivan (16, 26) and Chris Layne (10, 20) has combined for 44 goals and 32 assists this season, whiel the second midfield unit of Pat Byrnes (9, 7), J.P. Dalton (9, 4) and Phil Dobson (7, 2) has added 25 and 13. Additionally, Nikko Pontrello has started to mix in with the second midfield, allowing Loyola’s attackers the opportunity to invert, and he has four goals and six assists.

Balanced Scoring In ECAC Championships

Loyola traveled to Denver for the 2012 ECAC Lacrosse League Championships and left the Mile-High City with a 97-pound trophy (no, really). The Greyhounds, who earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament and finished the regular-season 6-0 in the league, beat host and No. 4 seed Denver, 14-13, in overtime to advance to the final. There, Loyola topped Fairfield, 14-7.

Fifteen different Greyhounds scored goals in the two games with 11 tallying goals in the semifinal and 10 in the title game. Mike Sawyer led the team with four goals in the two games, a trio coming in the final, while Eric Lusby, Chris Layne and Scott Ratliff each had three.

Justin Ward led the Greyhounds with eight total points, dishing out three assists in the semifinal and three along with two goals in the championship.

Two players scored their first collegiate goals in the games, one in each contest. Kevin Ryan tallied a first-quarter goal on a man-up possession against Denver, and Brian Schultz recorded his first in the fourth quarter versus Fairfield.

Sawyer, Lusby Form Rare Tandem

Graduate student Eric Lusby and junior Mike Sawyer have formed the top attack tandem in the ECAC Lacrosse League this year and one of the most balanced in the nation. The duo has combined for 90 goals in 16 games this season, an average of 5.625 per game.

Sawyer has scored 50 goals, and his 3.13 goals per game average is third-best in Division I. Lusby, meanwhile is right behind with 40 goals and a 2.5 goals per game mark, a number that is tied for 14th in the country. Loyola is one of two schools to have two players in the top 14 of goals per game nationally (Robert Morris).

The Greyhounds have not had two players score 40 or more goals in the same season since 2000 when Tim Goettelmann set the school single-season record with 50, and Gavin Prout tallied 41. As a side note, the Goettelmann-Prout duo has gone on to highly successful professional careers. Goettelman recently retired from Major League Lacrosse as the league’s all-time leading scorer with 268 goals in 11 seasons. Prout has been an MLL Champion and has scored 314 National Lacrosse League goals to go with 625 assists as a multiple-time all-star.

Spreading Out The Scoring Wealth

Loyola’s first 11 goals against Denver in the ECAC Semifinal night were scored by 11 different players. Eric Lusby, Phil Dobson and Scott Ratliff finished the game with two goals, and eight others had one.

All three members of the Greyhounds’ first midfield – Davis Butts, Chris Layne and Sean O’Sullivan – scored goals. They received four goals from the four players who make up the second midfield line – Dobson (2), Pat Byrnes and Nikko Pontrello (J.P. Dalton did not score). Extra-man attackman Kevin Ryan scored, and two of the team’s three attackmen – Mike Sawyer and Lusby (2) – recorded goals. Ratliff scored twice in transition, and short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Hawkins added one. The Greyhounds’ other attack player, Justin Ward, did not score but had a game-high three assists.

In the title game, 10 different players scored for Loyola with all three attackers scoring and two of three from the first midfield like tallying goals.

Twelve In A Row Ties Mark

Loyola’s 12-straight to start the season tied the school record for consecutive victories, matching the number put up by the 1998 (March 14-May 17) and 1999 (March 6-May 8).

It also matched the best start to a season, equaling the 1999 team that finished the regular-season unblemished at 12-0.

Ratliff Named ECAC Defender Of The Year

Junior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff was named the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, marking the second time in four years a Greyhounds’ long pole has received the award. P.T. Ricci earned the honor in 2009, as well.

Ratliff leads the ECAC with 34 caused turnovers (2.13 per game) and is sixth nationally in that category, and he is tops on the Greyhounds with 74 ground balls (4.5 per contest).

The native of Marietta, Ga., also has scored nine goals and has seven assists this year, keying the Greyhounds’ transition game on many occasions. He earned ECAC Co-Specialist of the Week twice during the year and was the Defensive Player of the Week early in the season.

Toomey Tabbed ECAC Coach Of The Year

Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey was named the ECAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his seven-year career. This season, Toomey has guided the Greyhounds to a 15-1 mark during the regular-season and the ECAC regular-season crown with a 6-0 mark in conference play.

The Greyhounds became the second team in USILA Coaches Poll history to start a season unranked and ascend to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. The only other team was Duke in 2007 – a year after the Blue Devils had their season suspended in March – which accomplished the feat after being unranked in the first poll, moving to second in the next version and first in the third. Duke was knocked from its perch as No. 1 that season when it lost to the Greyhounds at the First Four in San Diego.

Earlier this season, Toomey won the 50th game of his coaching career, becoming the fourth coach in Loyola history to win 50 or more – Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001), Charles Wenzel (62-104, 1954-1970), Jay Connor (61-46, 1975-1982).  Toomey’s .618 winning percentage trails only Cottle’s .721 at Loyola.

All-ECAC Honors

Five Loyola players earned All-ECAC Lacrosse League honors form the conference’s coaches. Long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff earned a spot as a defender on the First Team, where he was joined by Mike Sawyer on attack and Davis Butts in the midfield.

Sawyer led the ECAC during the regular-season, and is now third nationally, in goals (50) and goals per game (3.13). Butts has scored 18 goals and assisted on 12 from the Greyhounds first midfield line while also regularly playing a role on the wings during face-offs with 36 ground balls.

Attack Eric Lusby and defender Joe Fletcher were tabbed to the All-ECAC Second Team. Lusby is second on the team and is 14th nationally with 40 goals (2.5 per game), and he also has 14 assists this season. Fletcher came on as one of the top lock-down defenders around, earning Midseason All-American honors from Inside Lacrosse last month. He has 30 ground balls and 21 caused turnovers entering the NCAA Quarterfinals.

Big Runs

Loyola used runs of three-plus goals at important junctures of its 6 games, helping the Greyhounds to wins each time. In all, Loyola has scored three or more in a row on 32 occasions this season.

Loyola scored the first four goals of the ECAC Semifinal game against Denver and then tallied three-straight after the Pioneers pulled within 4-2. The Greyhounds then reeled off five in a row during the third quarter to take a 13-6 lead.

In the ECAC title game, Loyola used an 8-1 run that was comprised of runs of 3-0 and 5-0 to take control of the game.

On The Flip Side

Conversely, the Greyhounds have allowed a run of three or more goals just 10 times this year, with the most recent coming when Canisius scored three in the second quarter. Only Denver (seven), Johns Hopkins (five), Fairfield (five), Air Force (four) have scored more than three in a row this year.

Following six of the nine opponent runs of three or more, Loyola has answered in kind with a run of 4-0 or better.

On The EMO

This season, the Greyhounds are ranked second in the nation in man-up offense, scoring 50-percent of the time. Only Lehigh (.553) has a better mark this year.

The last time Loyola finished at or above .500 in man-up offense was in 1997 when it converted 39-of-77 (.506).

Second-Half Success

The Greyhounds have now outscored opponents 60-20 in the third quarters of games and 113-56 overall this year in the second half (including overtime).

The second-half scoring continues a trend from the last two seasons. Last year, Loyola outscored opponents, 69-52, after halftime (including two overtime goals), and 77-56 two years ago.

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2012 – The Tewaaraton Foundation has announced the 2012 Tewaaraton Award men’s and women’s nominees, presented by Panama Jack. Twenty five women and 25 men were selected as nominees, from which the 12^th annual Tewaaraton Award 10 finailists (5 women, 5 men) will be selected and honored May 31, 2012, at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

 

The men’s award nominees include players from 20 schools, including 2011 winner Steele Stanwick (Virginia) and representatives from 18 of the current top 20 teams in the April 23 USILA Men’s Division I Poll. Salisbury University’s Sam Bradman the lone Division III representative. Five schools had two players nominated, including Johns Hopkins (Pierce Bassett, Tucker Durkin), Loyola (Scott Ratliff, Michael Sawyer), Princeton (Tyler Fiorito, Tom Schreiber), Massachusetts (Anthony Biscardi, Will Manny) and Virginia (Colin Briggs, Stanwick). Men’s nominees are as follows:

Pierce Bassett, Goalie – Johns Hopkins University

Peter Baum, Midfield – Colgate University

Jesse Bernhardt, LSM – University of Maryland

Anthony Biscardi, Midfield – University of Massachusetts

Sam Bradman, Midfield – Salisbury University

Colin Briggs, Midfield – University of Virginia

CJ Costabile, Long Stick Midfield – Duke University

Kevin Cunningham, Attack – Villanova University

Tucker Durkin, Defense – Johns Hopkins University

Billy Eisenreich, Attack – Bucknell University

Tyler Fiorito, Goalie – Princeton University

Marcus Holman, Attack/Midfield – University of North Carolina

Austin Kaut, Goalie – Penn State University

John Kemp, Goalie – University of Notre Dame

Roy Lang, Midfield – Cornell University

Will Manny, Attack – University of Massachusetts

Kiel Matisz, Midfield – Robert Morris University

Mark Matthews, Attack – University of Denver

Brian Megill, Defense – Syracuse University

Mason Poli, Defense – Bryant University

Scott Ratliff, LSM – Loyola University

Michael Sawyer, Attack – Loyola University

Tom Schreiber, Midfield – Princeton University

Steele Stanwick, Attack – University of Virginia

Garrett Thul, Attack – United States Military Academy

The women’s award nominees include players from 17 schools, including 2011 winner Shannon Smith (Northwestern) and representatives from 16 of the current top 20 teams in the April 24 IWLCA Division I Poll. Maryland (Kari Ellen Johnson, Iliana Sanza, Katie Schwarzmann) and North Carolina (Kara Cannizzaro, Becky Lynch, Laura Zimmerman) led all schools with three nominees each. Schwarzmann and Smith have been nominated for a second straight year.

Dana Cahill, Goalie – Penn State University

Kara Cannizzaro, Midfield – University of North Carolina

Ally Carey, Midfield – Vanderbilt University

Kitty Cullen, Attack – University of Florida

Brittany Dashiell, Midfield – University of Florida

Emma Hamm, Attack – Duke University

Kristin Igoe, Midfield – Boston College

Karri Ellen Johnson, Attack – University of Maryland

Becky Lynch, Attack – University of North Carolina

Alayna Markwordt, Attack – Ohio State University

Alyssa Murray, Attack – Syracuse University

Josie Owen, Attack – University of Virginia

Marlee Paton, Midfield – Loyola University

Sarah Plumb, Midfield – Dartmouth College

Iliana Sanza, Defense – University of Maryland

Katie Schwarzmann, Midfield – University of Maryland

Shannon Smith, Midfield – Northwestern University

Jessi Steinberg, Attack – Cormell University

Maggie Tamasitis, Attack – University of Notre Dame

Mary Teeters, Goalie – Towson University

Sophia Thomas, Midfield – Georgetown University

Taylor Thornton, Defense – Northwestern University

Michelle Tumolo, Attack – Syracuse University

Kim Wenger, Midfield – Duke University

Laura Zimmerman, Midfield – University of North Carolina

Five men’s and five women’s finalists will be announced May 10 and invited to the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony. The original men’s and women’s watch lists, were announced Feb. 15 with additions made March 20 and April 3 and were ultimately comprised of 82 men’s players and 57 women’s players.

“We congratulate these 50 elite student-athletes on their remarkable accomplishments thus far this season,” said Jeff Harvey, chairman of the Tewaaraton Foundation. “With the help of our selection committees, we look forward to announcing this year’s finalists next month.” The selection committees are comprised of 12 men’s and ten women’s current and former coaches.

For more information on the Tewaaraton Award, please visit www.tewaaraton.com. Like and follow The Tewaaraton Foundation at www.facebook.com/Tewaaraton and www.twitter.com/tewaaraton.

 

About The Tewaaraton Foundation

First presented in 2001, the Tewaaraton Award is recognized as the pre-eminent lacrosse award, annually honoring the top male and female college lacrosse player in the United States. Endorsed by the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders and US Lacrosse, the Tewaaraton Award symbolizes lacrosse’s centuries-old roots in Native American heritage. The Tewaaraton Foundation ensures the integrity and advances the mission of this award. Each year, the Tewaaraton Award celebrates one of the six tribal nations of the Iroquois Confederacy – the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora – and presents two scholarships to students of Iroquois descent. To learn more about The Tewaaraton Foundation, please visit www.tewaaraton.com.

About Panama Jack

Panama Jack is an international company that has built a powerful brand and loyal following with product offerings synonymous with a carefree beach lifestyle. Its offerings include suncare products, sunglasses, beach apparel, sandals and shoes, hats, jewelry, and beach chairs and umbrellas. Panama Jack added home furnishings to its product offerings in 2011, introducing its Home Collection and Outdoor Collection that allow people to live the Panama Jack lifestyle at home. The company also launched branded luggage and beach-cruiser bicycles in 2010, as well as opening the first of several Panama Jack retail stores at top travel destinations. Founded in 1974, Panama Jack is based in Orlando, FL. To learn more, please visit www.panamajack.com.

Opening Face-Off
The Tigers (5-3, 1-0 CAA) will be seeking their fourth straight victory when they travel to Hempstead, N.Y. to take on No. 20 Hofstra (4-4, 1-1 CAA) Saturday evening. The contest will be the first CAA road game for Towson, which is 2-2 away from Johnny Unitas® Stadium this year. Opening face-off is set for 7:00 p.m. and fans can catch the game live on WNST-AM 1570 with Spiro Morekas and Hunter Lochte calling the action.

Updating the Tigers
With a 5-3 overall record, Towson boasts its best mark after eight games since the 2007 season in which the Tigers started 5-3 as well. Towson ended that year with a 9-7 overall record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers have seen a number of significant contributions during their winning streak, including a four-goal effort from senior Matt Lamon against Mercer and a three-assist day for freshman Justin Mabus against Delaware. Six different Towson players have double-digit points for the season, led by Sean Maguire’s 20 points on a team-high 15 goals and five assists. With Mabus’ three assists against the Blue Hens, the rookie now leads the team in that category with nine. The well balanced Tiger offense is coming off a game in which five different players registered two goals.

Scouting the Pride
After starting the season 1-2, Hofstra has won three of its last five games and is ranked No. 20 in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) national poll. The Pride have played three nationally-ranked foes, topping then-No. 20 Delaware (13-5) and falling to current No. 15 Fairfield and No. 6 Notre Dame. The loss to the Fighting Irish occurred in overtime while the setback against the Stags was a triple overtime heartbreaker. Junior Adrian Sorichetti paces Hofstra with 27 points on 18 goals and nine assists while goalkeeper Andrew Gvozden ranks second in the CAA averaging 11.12 saves per game.

Towson-Hofstra Series History
The Tigers and Pride will be meeting for the 43rd time on the lacrosse field Saturday. Towson has only played Loyola (54) and Delaware (53) more often in its history. The Pride own a narrow 24-18 advantage in the all-time series history, including four straight wins. The last time the Tigers won in Hempstead was April 17, 2004.

Tigers Receiving Votes In National Polls
Riding a three-game winning streak, the Towson men’s lacrosse team received votes in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) national poll. After the 20 ranked teams, the Tigers are in a group along with Bryant, Drexel, Yale, Navy, Harvard, Robert Morris and UMBC that are receiving votes and on the brink of breaking into the national Top 20.

CAA Honors Mabus
After dishing out three assists and scoring his first goal of the season last week, Towson freshman Justin Mabus earned CAA Rookie of the Week honors, the league announced Monday. Mabus currently leads the Tigers with nine assists in just six games.

In The National Rankings
Towson ranks Top 10 in the nation in a pair of categories. The Tigers are second in the country in shot percentage by scoring on 37.4 percent of their shots. Only Bucknell (41.0 percent) ranks higher. Additionally, the Tigers are eighth in the nation in man-up offense. In 22 man-up opportunities this season, Towson has tallied 11 goals.

BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team jumped to the top spot in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll today. The Blue Jays moved up from the number two spot in both polls after Saturday’s 11-10 win at top-ranked Virginia. Hopkins improved to 8-0 for the first time since 2005 with the win the win over the Cavaliers.

The Blue Jays grabbed 10-of-11 first-place votes in the USILA Coaches Poll and totaled 210 points to earn the number one spot. UMass (7-0) checks in at number two with 199 points, while Virginia (8-1/195 points), Loyola (8-0/189) and Cornell (6-1/187) round out the top five. Loyola grabbed the lone first-place vote that didn’t go to Johns Hopkins.

This the 390th weekly poll released by the USILA since the poll was first issued in 1973. This week’s number-one ranking marks the 104th time since the poll’s inception that the Blue Jays have earned the top spot. Johns Hopkins has been ranked in the top five 293 times and the top 10 in 367 of the 390 polls.

The Johns Hopkins office Athletic Communications uses the USILA Poll to reflect Johns Hopkins’ official national ranking.

Hopkins earned a unanimous number-one ranking in the Nike/Media Poll. The Blue Jays grabbed all 18 first-place votes and totaled 360 points to secure the top spot. Virginia (339 points), UMass (311), Cornell (310) and Loyola (292) round out the top five.

USILA Coaches Poll
• March 26, 2012 •
Rk. Team – Points
1. Johns Hopkins (10) – 218
2. UMass – 199
3. Virginia – 195
4. Loyola (1) – 189
5. Cornell – 187
6. Notre Dame – 165
7. Lehigh – 144
8. Duke – 137
9. Maryland – 125
10. Denver – 112
11. North Carolina – 111
12. Villanova – 106
13. Princeton – 95
14. Syracuse – 74
15. Fairfield – 62
16. Bucknell – 53
17. Colgate – 51
18. Penn State – 33
19. Georgetown – 12
20. Hofstra- 8

The UMBC (2-2) men’s lacrosse team hurdled the first obstacle in a challenging week as the Retrievers knocked off No. 4 Maryland, 8-7, at UMBC Stadium on Tuesday evening, March 6. Just four days later, UMBC has the assignment of taking on No. 2 Johns Hopkins (4-0) at M&T Bank Stadium at the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic. The opening face-off is scheduled to take place at 4:00 p.m. Game coverage includes ESPN3 with John Brickley and Paul Carcaterra on the call.

SCOUTING THE RETRIEVERS

The UMBC men’s lacrosse team scored five unanswered fourth-quarter goals and rallied to defeat No. 4 Maryland, 8-7, at UMBC Stadium on March 6. It was the Retrievers’ first victory over a top-five program since a 9-7 win over No. 5 Maryland in March of 2009. UMBC was ranked No. 10 at that time.

Junior attackman Scott Jones led UMBC with two goals and one assist, while sophomore midfielder Conor Finch posted his first three points of the season with a goal and two helpers, all in the fourth quarter. Jones scored both the go-ahead (7th) goal and eventual (8th) game-winning goal. Sophomore midfielder Zach Linkous added two goals for UMBC.

Sophomore face-off specialist Phil Poe controlled 15 of 19 draws in the contest against a team that entered the game at 61.4 percent.

Jones and Linkous lead UMBC with nine goals apiece through four games.

All four games for the Retrievers this season have been decided by four or fewer goals. Three of the four have been tied at some point in the fourth quarter.

SCOUTING THE BLUE JAYS

Johns Hopkins is coming off an 11-0 shutout win over Manhattan on Tuesday. The Jaspers managed only 14 shots against the Blue Jays. Junior midfielder John Greeley scored three goals for the Jays, as eight different JHU players hit the nets.

Junior attackman Zach Palmer leads the Jays in scoring with 7 goals and 10 assists. Another native of Canada, sophomore attackman Brandon Benn leads the way in goal-scoring with 8. Hopkins is allowing only 5.00 goals per game and junior netminder Pierce Bassett has a 60.9 save percentage in five starts.

The Blue Jays have outscored their foes, 50-25, this year, including 39-16 through the first three quarters.

Johns Hopkins is 106-29 (.784) in its last 135 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and 123-37 (.767) overall since the start of the 2002 season.

Johns Hopkins made its 40th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season. By comparison, the next six longest active streaks of qualifying for the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament add up to exactly 40 consecutive appearances (Maryland-9, Cornell-8, Virginia-7, Notre Dame-6, Duke-5, North Carolina-5).

THE SERIES

Prior to the 2012 season, UMBC men’s lacrosse had competed against 75 different institutions in men’s lacrosse and had a minimum of one victory against 74 of those schools. The exception is Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays are 9-0 vs. the Retrievers. (UMBC lost its first-ever meeting with Robert Morris to start the 2012 campaign.)

The two schools resumed their series in 2005 and have met in each of the past seven seasons. Three of those seven meetings have been decided by three goals or less, with the closest occurring in 2008, when Hopkins prevailed, 10-8.

Last season’s 16-5 triumph by Johns Hopkins at the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic tied the greatest goal differential in the series (15-4 in the first meeting in 1983 in Don Zimmerman’s first game as a Blue Jay mentor).

Dave Brown scored a pair of goals for UMBC, while sophomore attackman Joe Lustgarten contributed a goal and an assist. Adam Cohen made one of his two starts in 2011 in the game and recorded 11 saves.

Rob Grimm has four goals and one assist in three previous games vs. Johns Hopkins.

UP NEXT: UMBC has a rare two-week break between games prior to resuming a series with local rival Loyola. The Retrievers and Greyhounds will square off at UMBC Stadium for the first time since 2004 on Sat., March 24 at 7:00 p.m.

*****

TOP DAWG: In 2009, Head Coach Don Zimmerman earned his third America East Coach of the Year honors in the four years.  Zimmerman entered the 2012 season 9th in victories (208) and 14th in winning percentage (61.5%) 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 210-131 in his 26th 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, 2012.

Zimmerman’s Records
Career Record:  210-132 (.614) (26th season)
at UMBC:                137-117 (.539) (19th season)

TEAM CAPTAINS: The UMBC men’s lacrosse team has selected senior attackman Rob Grimm (Black River, N.Y./Carthage), junior attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) and junior long-stick midfielder Ethan Murphy (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca East) as its captains for the 2011-12 season.

“We are pleased with the selection of Rob, Scott and Ethan as this year’s captains,” head coach Don Zimmerman said. “They are outstanding individuals in their own right, and this trio will now have the opportunity to work together as leaders, representing the 2012 Retrievers on and off the playing field.”

CONGRATS: Four returning players received their first conference accolades. Junior attackman Scott Jones and junior defender Sam McKelvey earned Second Team All-Conference honors. Sophomore Zach LInkous was named to the league’s All-Rookie Team and sophomore Neill Lewnes earned a spot on the conference’s All-Academic squad.

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

BEASTS OF AMERICA EAST: UMBC is now 33-9 in eight years of America East competition and 18-3 at UMBC Stadium.

In 2011, The Retrievers (6-7, 3-2 AEC) had a winning league record and earned a spot in the four-team America East Conference Championships for the eighth consecutive year.

WINNING THE TIGHT ONES: UMBC is now 24-14 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.

But, in 2012, UMBC has dropped a two-goal decision to Robert Morris and an overtime heartbreaker to Fairfield. The loss to the Stags snapped a four-game winning streak in one-goal games, which dated back to a 6-5 loss to Princeton in 2009. Three days later, the Retrievers rebounded from the Fairfield disappointment to defeat No. 4 Maryland by a single goal, 8-7.

UMBC has won 16 of its last 21 one-goal decisions.

UMBC is now 15-6 in Don Zimmerman’s 19 seasons in overtime and in his career, Coach Zimmerman is 17-8 in extra time.

HOME, SWEET HOME: After 14 consecutive winning seasons at UMBC Stadium, the Retrievers were 1-6 at home in 2010. However, UMBC bounced back to go 4-1 last year and is 35-13 (.729) at home since 2006.

THE HITS JUST KEEP COMING: UMBC’s 45 wins over a four-year period (2006-09) is the most in the school’s history, surpassing the 42 wins recorded from 1974-1977. For the first time in school history, UMBC won 10 or more games in four consecutive seasons.

Programs With Most Victories, 2006-09
1. Virginia 58
2. Duke 56
3. Cornell 50
4. Syracuse 47
5. UMBC 45

DON’T LOOK BACK: UMBC is now in its 45th season of varsity men’s lacrosse with a record of 335-277 (.547). The Retrievers played their 600th intercollegiate match on March 18, 2012 at Maryland. They are 219-212 (.508) in their 31st 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.

POWERFUL POWER PLAY: UMBC has been nationally ranked in man-up percentage in four of the past six years. In 2009, the Retrievers led the country in man-up situations and set a school record by converting on 51.7% (30 of 57) of its opportunities.

Year    Man-Up Pct. Year-End National Rank
2009    .517            1st
2007    .464            5th
2006    .417            7th
2005    .444            2nd
2004    .379            10th

To date in 2012, UMBC has scored on 4 of 22 man-up opportunities. They did not commit a penalty in the opener vs. Robert Morris and have only been flagged six times in four games and all six have been minor fouls. UMBC has killed off of those man-down situations.

Junior attackman Rob Grimm is UMBC’s active scoring leader with 96 points (45-51-95). He needs 4 points to become the 29th player in school history to hit the 100-point plateau.  Grimm has points in 40 of 47 games played in his career.

Grimm’s Five-Point Games
March 31, 2009  2g, 3a vs. Towson
Feb. 19, 2011           1g, 4a at Presbyterian
March 5, 2011           3g, 2a at North Carolina
April 6, 2011           3g, 2a vs. Towson
May 3, 2012             4g, 1a at Hartford

HAT TRICKS: Zach Linkous recorded UMBC’s first hat trick of the season (his first career hat trick) and tacked on two more goals for UMBC’s second five-goal effort in the last two years vs. Rutgers… Junior Scott Jones had the most recent effort at Albany on April 16, 2012. Jones has five 3+ goal games (Presbyterian, Maryland, Albany, Vermont in 2011/Fairfield in 2012); Dave Brown has a pair (4g at Presbyterian, 3g vs. Binghamton, 2011) as does Rob Grimm (UNC, Hartford, 2011), Scott Hopmann (Presbyterian, ‘11) and Joe Lustgarten (Hartford, ‘11)  have one apiece.

A IS FOR ADAM: Junior goalkeeper 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. He made seven fourth-quarter saves and turned a late Knight turnover into a one-man clear and goal to punctuate his first victory since a 8-7 overtime win at Vermont on April 24, 2010. Cohen’s first career win also occurred at Rutgers, a 6-5 victory on Feb. 28, 2010.

Cohen made six of his eight saves, allowing just one goal, in the fourth quarter in the 8-7 victory over Maryland.

ZACH PACK: Zach Linkous scored the game’s first goal vs. Rutgers, had two in the second quarter and another pair in the third stanza. Linkous, an America East All-Rookie team selection in 2011, scored a season-best two goals on two occasions in his freshman campaign an added a pair in the
opener vs. Robert Morris. His nine goals have already surpassed his season total (6) of 2011.

WHAT BROWN CAN DO FOR YOU: Dave Brown posted a six-point game (1 goal, 5 assists) at Albany on April 16. The five assists in a game was tied for sixth in the nation last season and was UMBC’s top-assist game since Drew Westervelt had six vs. Vermont on April 21, 2007. Brown opened the 2012 season with a pair of assists vs. Robert Morris and posted 2-2-4 in the win at Rutgers.

CROW ABOUT POE: Sophomore face-off specialist Phil Poe won 15 draws (15-6) vs. RMU in the 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 has attempted all but two draws through four games in 2012.

VACUUMS: Junior midfielder Neill Lewnes and sophomore LSM Nathan Klein each contributed five ground balls and two caused turnovers apiece at Rutgers. Lewnes, who led UMBC with 41 ground balls in 2011, is the club leader with 20 through four games in 2012. Junior defender Ethan Murphy scooped up a career-high six ground balls vs. Maryland.

FIRST-TIMERS: Senior defender Aaron Verardi and freshman attack man Derek Bertolini each scored their first career goals in the game vs. Fairfield. Bertolini produced his first career multiple-point game (1-1-2) vs. Maryland.

PTP: Sophomore midfielder Conor Finch produced his best game, er, quarter, vs. the Terrapins on March 6. He contributed three points (1g, 2a) in UMBC’s 5-1 15-minute surge and took a leading role in the comeback victory.

LOWS AND HIGHS: UMBC committed a season-low 12 turnovers in the game and caused a season-high 11 Fairfield miscues.

FINIISHING KICK: The Retrievers have been outscored, 19-13, in the first half this season, but have turned the tables in the second half, with a 23-14 advantage on the scoreboard.