Men’s Lacrosse four-year letterwinner Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, Brit. Columbia/Terry Fox) earned Outstanding Senior Male Athlete recognition, while track & field’s Amanda Deller (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) and women’s lacrosse’s Jamie Fahey(Baldwin, Md./Loch Raven) shared the Outstanding Senior Female Athlete Award.

Women’s Basketball’s Raven Harris (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne/American) and men’s soccer’s Liam Paddock(Worcestershire, England/Chase Technology College) received the prestigious Matt Skalsky Scholar-Athlete Award, given to the department’s top academic honorees.

Caringi III authored a breakthrough season for the men’s soccer program, and was the offensive force that propelled the team to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, earning several post-season honors. He was cited as the America East Striker of the Year, the ECAC Offensive Player of the Year and he was selected to National College Soccer Coaches’ Association All-Northeast Region Second Team.

An America East First Team selection and the league’s Fans’ Choice Player of the Year, he scored 14 goals and recorded 32 points to place 13th and 15th respectively in the country. The local Calvert Hall product also tied a school single-game record by scoring four goals in a resounding victory over league foe Hartford.

Jackson pushed past her record-setting freshman campaign and continued to make history both inside and outside, as she garnered her second consecutive Athlete of the Year recognition. Already the school-record holder in the 60-meter and 200-meter dash events indoors from last year, Jackson ran past both marks during the 2012-13 indoor track season, including a personal-best time of 7.34 in the 60-meter event to become just the fourth UMBC track athlete ever to advance to the NCAA Championships. In Fayetteville, Arkansas, she placed 13th and earned a spot on the All-America Second Team.

Outside, the sophomore has continued her bristling pace, winning the 100m and 200m dash events in record-breaking time at the America East Outdoor Championships. Her victory in the 100-meter race broke an eight-year old conference record, while her win the 200-meter snapped her own conference and school-record times. For her efforts, she was named the Most Outstanding Female Track Performer.

A year after breaking onto the scene at UMBC with three individual gold medals at the 2012 America East Championships,Hussein, also a back-to-back honoree of Most Outstanding Athlete recognition, pushed even further this season, leading the Retrievers to just their second-ever undefeated dual meet season. In Orono, Maine, he once again won three individual events and was named the Most Outstanding Male Swimmer for the second-straight year, as he helped guide the Retrievers back to the top of the conference with a meet-record 1,075 total points at the America East Championships in Maine.

Following the America East meet, the junior claimed Top Male Swimmer accolades at the ECAC Championships and became just the third Retriever in program history, and first male swimmer, to make the cut for the NCAA Championships. In Indianapolis, against a national field, he set personal-records in the 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestyle, and the 200-yard backstroke, breaking his own school record with each swim.

Jones has been the men’s lacrosse team’s offensive leader for the past three seasons. He has earned three all-conference honors, including first team recognition in 2012, when he finished eighth in the nation in goals scored per game. Earlier this season, he became the 30th player in school history to record 100 points and currently stands 20th with 117 career points. Jones has served as team captain of the Retrievers for the past two season and earned all-tournament honors at the 2013 America East Men’s Lacrosse Championships.

Deller has won the shot put all eight times at the America East Championships, earning a gold medal in the event indoors and outdoors, all four years of her career. In addition, she has won the weight throw at the indoor meet to be named the Most Outstanding Female Field Athlete each of the last two years. Last year, she added the discus championship to her career haul and this season at the conference championships at Binghamton, she repeated in the discus to bring her career haul to 12 America East titles.

Fahey received conference honors all four season with the Retrievers, including three straight selections to the America East All-Conference First Team. Additionally, she has earned national recognition on the IWLCA Mid-Atlantic Region Second Team, as well as garnering a spot on the womenslacrosse.com All-Rookie Squad. The four-year letterwinner eclipsed the century mark for draw controls with 115 and ground balls with 105 for her career this season, in addition to recording her first career point with an assist in a 15-12 victory against American.

Harris emerged as one of the elite point guards in the America East in her senior season, setting a new school record with 109 steals on the season, ranking fifth all-time in takeaways in a campaign for the America East, and ended the year ranked third in the country in steals per game. An America East All-Conference Second Team selection, and a member of the America East All-Defensive team, the senior guard tripled her scoring production from a year ago, averaging 12.4 points per game and adding 3.8 helpers. The America East Honor Roll member earned a bachelor’s degree with a major in media and communications studies in May 2012 and has posted a 4.0 GPA since starting her master’s program in early childhood education.

Paddock became just the second UMBC student-athlete ever to receive a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, which he is using to pursue a master’s degree in the management of aging studies. He earned his undergraduate degree with a 3.92 GPA, completing a double-major in psychology and sociology and was the 2012 ECAC Division I Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

A team captain at UMBC, Paddock was named 2012 America East Defender of the Year and was a repeat selection to the America East All-Conference First Team. The two-time America East Scholar Athlete in the sport of men’s soccer, he started all 72 games that he dressed for in his four-year tenure in Baltimore.

The Leon Upshur Memorial Award, establish in 1994 to honor a student volunteer that contributes to the mission of the athletic department in capacities other than participation, was given to fourth-year student trainer Mariah Cheaves.

Juniors Andrew Smith (Chadds Ford, Pa./Garnet Valley) of track & field and Klara Pavelkova (Prague, Czech Republic/Gymnasium Pripotocni) of women’s swimming & diving wrapped up the major award winners as the recipients of the Retriever Club Scholarship Award, which will be used for their senior seasons of competition.

Below is the list of UMBC’s most valuable athletes, most improved athletes and unsung heroes for each sport, chose by that’ team’s coaches, as well as the winners of the third annual Gritty Awards:

2012-13 UMBC Award Winners

Men’s Soccer
Most Improved Athlete: Jordan Becker (Pocomoke City, Md./Pocomoke)
Most Valuable Athlete: Pete Carinigi III (Perry Hall, Md./Calvert Hall)
Most Valuable Athlete: Phil Saunders (Perry Hall, Md./Perry Hall)

Women’s Soccer
Unsung Hero: Melissa Hummel (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East)
Most Improved Athlete: Stephanie Smith (Severna Park, Md./Archbishop Spalding)
Most Valuable Athlete: Lauren Kadet (Oakville, Ontario/St. Thomas Aquinas)

Volleyball
Unsung Hero: Robbin Lee (Olney, Md./Sherwood)
Most Improved Athlete: Mallory McIntyre (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada/St. Mary’s Academy)
Most Improved Athlete: Krystal Mlemchukwu (Baltimore, Md./Western Tech)

Men’s Cross Country
Unsung Hero: Tommy Eldridge (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River)
Most Improved Athlete: Jake Albino (Hampton, N.Y./Minisink Valley)
Most Valuable Athlete: Brandan McGee (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood)

Women’s Cross Country
Unsung Hero: Nicole Dawson (Jessup, Md./Hammond)
Most Improved Athlete: Julie Gessler (Ellicott City, Md./Institute of Notre Dame)
Most Valuable Athlete: Cody Mezebish (Westminster, Md./South Carroll)

Men’s Basketball
Unsung Hero: Malik Garner (Philadelphia, Pa./Chestnut Hill Academy)
Most Improved Athlete: Brian Neller (Red Bank, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy)
Most Valuable Athlete: Ryan Cook (Laurel, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti/Chestnut Hill College)

Women’s Basketball
Unsung Hero: Kristin Coles (Charles Town, W.Va./Notre Dame Academy/American)
Most Improved Athlete: Kim Browning (Mechanicsville, Va./Hanover)
Most Valuable Athlete: Raven Harris (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne/American)

Men’s Swimming & Diving
Unsung Hero: Andrew Eckhoff (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford)
Unsung Hero: Pierre DeWaal (Pretoria, South Africa/Tuks Sport/Cleveland State)
Most Valuable Athlete: Mohammed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College)

Women’s Swimming & Diving
Most Improved Athlete: Corinna Darelius (Rye, N.Y./Rye)
Most Improved Athlete: Faye Hixenbaugh (Rockville, Md./Richard Montgomery)
Most Valuable Athlete: Jennifer Kotonias (Burtonsville, Md./Academy of Holy Cross)

Men’s Indoor Track & Field
Most Improved Athlete: Liam Stott (Carrboro, N.C./Chapel Hill)
Most Valuable Athlete: Dennison Long (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt/FIU)
Most Valuable Athlete: Andrew Smith (Chadds Ford, Pa./Garnet Valley)

Women’s Indoor Track & Field
Most Improved Athlete: Mary Katherine Kulp (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal)
Most Valuable Athlete: Mercedes Jackson (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown)
Most Valuable Athlete: Amanda Deller (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen)

Men’s Lacrosse
Unsung Hero: Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River
Unsung Hero: Ethan Murphy (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca East)
Unsung Hero: Jake Zimmerman (Towson, Md./Boys’ Latin)

Women’s Lacrosse
Unsung Hero: Kendall Mason (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor)
Most Improved Athlete: Lexi Bristow (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck)
Most Valuable Athlete: Jamie Fahey (Baldwin, Md./Loch Raven)

Men’s Tennis
Unsung Hero: Patrick Geoffrion-Amorim (Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada/American Heritage)
Most Improved Athlete: Daniel Gray (Bowie, Md./The Bullis School)
Most Valuable Athlete: Justin Carter (Randallstown, Md./National Connections Academy)

Women’s Tennis
Unsung Hero: Isabel Aldunate (Bowie, Md./Home School)
Most Improved Athlete: Heidi Danielsson (Jonkoping, Sweden/Sanda)
Most Valuable Athlete: Josefin Stange-Jonsson (Vasteras, Sweden/De La Gardiegymnasiet)

Men’s Outdoor Track & Field
Most Valuable Athlete: Dennison Long (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt/FIU)
Most Valuable Athlete: Vincent Rentzsch (Oranienburg, Germany)
Most Valuable Athlete: Thor Serafenas (Olney, Md./Good Counsel/Clemson)

Women’s Outdoor Track & Field
Most Valuable Athlete: Kirsten Jones (Brentwood, Tenn./M.L.K. Magnet)
Most Valuable Athlete: Amanda Deller (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen)
Most Valuable Athlete: Mercedes Jackson (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown)

Baseball
Unsung Hero: Robert Hopp (Catonsville, Md./Catonsville)
Unsung Hero: Luke Seppi (Annapolis, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt)
Most Improved Athlete: Jon Cohn (Scottsdale, Ariz./Notre Dame Prep)

Softball
Unsung Hero: Danielle O’Neill (Loathian, Md./Southern)
Most Valuable Athlete: Heather Brown (Pasadena, Md./Northeast)
Most Valuable Athlete: Taylor Hall (Cosby, Va./Cosby)

2012-13 Gritty Award Winners

Upset of the Year: Men’s Soccer victory over Old Dominion

Rookie of the Year: Pat Young (Ewing, N.J./Christchurch School) – men’s lacrosse

Record-Breaking Performance: Mohammed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College) – men’s swimming & diving

Comeback Athlete of the Year: Amy Fay (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) – women’s swimming & diving

Play of the Year: Brian Neller (Red Bank, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) – men’s basketball

Breakthrough Athlete of the Year: Shannon Harkey (Purcellville, Va./Loudoun Valley/Florida) – women’s

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UMBC, which entered the game 4-1 in its last five contests, finished the season at 7-8.

Senior attackmen Joe Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) and Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) and junior face-off specialist Phil Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha) were selected to the All-Tournament Team.

Jones led the Retrievers with four goals vs. Albany and amassed seven goals in the two games.

There were four ties and lead changes in the first half until Albany closed the stanza on a 5-0 run. UMBC trailed, 3-2, after one quarter and 4-2 just 34 seconds into the second, but went on a 3-0 run to take a 5-4 lead with 9:18 to play in the frame.

Freshman midfielder Nate Lewnes (Arnold, Md./St. Mary’s) started the surge with an extra-man goal at the 12:41 mark, and Jones tied the score, converting a feed from senior middie Nick Doub (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) at the 10:04 mark. Senior attackman Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) got inside and beat UA keeper Blaze Riordan from a tough angle to put UMBC back out in front at 5-4 with 9:18 to play in the half.

After a time out, Albany tied the game 42 seconds later, starting the 5-0 surge. Albany outshot UMBC, 31-15 in the first 30 minutes, and despite nine saves by DiRito, the Danes led by four at the break.

UMBC came out quickly in the third quarter, winning the opening face-off after a loose ball battled and cashed in when freshman Pat Young (Ewing, N.J./Christchurch School) scored with just 39 seconds elapsed. But the Danes went on a 4-0 run before Retriever senior midfielder Dave Brown (Coopersburg, Pa./The Hill School) stopped the surge and cut the deficit to 13-7 with 4:25 remaining.

But the Retrievers could get no close in the final 19 minutes of the game and fell to 3-2 in America East title games.

In his final game along with 13 other seniors, Brown scored a goal and added two assists. Lewnes scored twice, while Doub added a pair of helpers.

Tournament Most Valuable Player, Albany sophomore attackman Lyle Thompson, led all scorers with three goals and six assists.

Albany outshot UMBC, 49-36, and DiRito finished the game with 10 saves. Albany freshman netminder Blaze Riordan made nine saves for his side.

The Danes converted on 4-of-6 extra-man opportunities, while UMBC was 1-of-2.

“I would like to thank our seniors for the great job they have done over the past four years, especially this year,” head coach Don Zimmerman said. “The guys are disappointed, but they should hold their heads up high. It’s a great group of guys, they work hard and they represent the school in a tremendous fashion.”

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The Retrievers (7-7) advanced by virtue of a stunning comeback in the semifinal contest vs. No. 2-seeded Hartford. Trailing 13-9 with less than six minutes remaining, UMBC junior face-off specialist Phil Poe won the final six draws of the game, and senior attackman Joe Lustgarten scored three of the Retrievers’ six goals in a span of 5:12 to spearhead a rally which resulted in a 15-13 UMBC victory. Lustgarten, who led UMBC with four goals and two assists, scored the game-winning goal with 55 seconds remaining, while Poe won 11 of 12 fourth-quarter draws and 22 of 29 in the contest.

Twelfth-ranked Albany (12-4) faced a tough out in No. 4 and host Stony Brook, but came away with a 17-15 victory in the nightcap of Thursday’s thrilling action at LaValle Stadium. The Great Danes defeated UMBC, 16-10, on April 19.

LAST TIME WE MET: Matt Gregoire scored a career-best five points, but the Retrievers fell, 16-10, to tenth-ranked Albany at John Fallon Field on April 19.Gregoire scored back-to-back goals late in the third quarter and early in the fourth to bring the Retrievers to within 11-9 with 10:48 remaining. But the high-powered Great Danes reeled off three straight goals in a span of 2:12 to take its biggest lead of the game at 14-9 with 6:36 to play. Pat Young briefly halted the surge and cut the deficit to four goals with 5:10 to play, but the Retrievers could get no closer.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT: In the conference semifinals, junior attackman Ty Thompson scored three goals down the stretch as the Great Danes scored five of the game’s final six goals to seal the 17-15 victory over Stony Brook. Ty Thompson finished with four goals and an assist while his teammate and cousin Lyle, the America East Player of the Year, had three goals and three assists to up his season-point total to 99.

ALL-TIME SERIES: UMBC leads the all-time series, 10-6, but Albany has won the last two contests. The two teams will meet for the seventh time in ten league seasons in the championships. The Great Danes have won four of the previous six meetings, although the Retrievers have won two of the three title game match-ups (2006, 2008).

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The Retrievers (7-7) advance to their first championship game since 2009, where they will face No. 1 Albany, a 1715 winner over No. 4 Stony Brook.

Lustgarten led the Retrievers with four goals and two assists, while senior attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) and freshman midfielder Pat Young (Ewing, N.J./Christchurch School) added three goals each for UMBC. Junior face-off specialist Phil Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha) won 22 of 29 face-offs in the game, including 10 of 11 in the fourth quarter.

“Down the stretch, when it counted, these guys stepped up and won a big, tough ballgame against a very good Hartford team,” said head coach Don Zimmerman “We have worked hard this year. In the last six minutes…, the team we believe we can be and are,showed up and got us the win.”

UMBC trailed the Hawks, 13-9, after Hartford’s Jared Franze capped a 4-0 Hawk run with a score at the 10:18 mark of the fourth quarter. But Poe would win the final six face-offs of the game to turn the tide back to UMBC.

Lustgarten broke the drought with his second goal of the day with 5:46 remaining. Just 81 seconds later, the Retreivers had cut the deficit to 13-12, as senior attackman Matt Gregore (Crofton, Md./South River) and Jones scored in a span of 29 seconds.

The Hawks committed a penalty with 2:30 remaining, and Young took advantage, dodging a man at the top and bouncing a shot past UH goalkeeper Frank Piechota to knot the score at 13-all with 2:01 remaining.

Lustgarten, who scored a career-high five goals vs. Hartford in 2012, was not to be denied in the final minute. On the game-winning goal, he dodged from behind the left side of the net, got to the middle and bounced a shot past Piechota.

Poe controlled the ensuing draw, but the ball was knocked away along the sideline. Lustgarten won the ground ball battle, drove in and scored the insurance goal with 34 seconds to play.

UMBC senior midfielder Dave Brown (Coopersburg, Pa./The Hill School) added two goals for UMBC. Hartford (7-7) was led by freshman attackman Jack Bobzien, who scored five goals.

UMBC controlled play for much of the first half, as the Retrievers controlled 9-of-13 face offs and outshot the Hawks, 24-17. UMBC got out to a 3-1 lead after one quarter, as junior midfielder Will Fejes (Solomons, Md./St. Mary’s Ryken) scored his first career goal to break the ice 3:53 into the game. Brown and Young added scores for the Retrievers, and Young’s score occurred with 12 seconds to play in the first stanza .

The Retrievers would extend the lead to as many as four goals, on Young’s second goal of the half, as UMBC took a 7-3 advantage with 2:06 to play in the frame. But Hartford took advantage of a late Retriever foul, and scored an extra-man goal with 18 ticks remaining in the half and sliced UMBC’s lead to 7-4 at the break.

But Hartford outscored UMBC, 5-2, in the third quarter. The Hawks took their first lead of the game at 9-8 late in the quarter, before Jones knotted the game at 9-9 after 45 minutes.

The Retrievers avenged a 15-14 overtime loss at Hartford on March 30.

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Moreover, Young was the lone freshman to be named to the America East Conference First Team.  He was joined on the first team by Retriever junior face-off specialist Phil Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha).

Senior attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) earned his third league citation as he was tabbed to the America East Second Team.

Freshman attackman/midfielder Nate Lewnes (Arnold, Md./St. Mary’s) joined Young on the league’s All-Rookie Team.

Senior defender Ethan Murphy (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca East) and senior midfielder Neill Lewnes (Arnold, Md./St. Mary’s) each earned their second selections to the conference’s All-Academic Team.

Young, a three-time America East Rookie-of-the-Week, currently leads UMBC with 34 points. His 28 goals is tied for the third-most ever by a UMBC Division I player. Young provided three game-winning goals on the season, including scores in the final three minutes of one-goal victories over league foes Stony Brook and Binghamton.

Young becomes just the second Retriever to earn top honors for a league rookie. GoalkeeperJeremy Blevins was the other, earning the citation in 2006. However, Young becomes the first UMBC player to earn First Team All-Conference honors in his freshman campaign.

Poe earns his second consecutive First Team citation. He leads the conference in face-off percentage at 58.4 and is ranked 11^th in the nation in that category. Poe has already eclipsed last year’s total of face-off wins with 181 and now possesses the second and third most wins in a single season in school history. He is also nine ground balls shy of becoming the 12^thplayer in school history to amass 200.

Earlier this season, Jones became the 30^th player in school history to amass 100 career points and is currently tied with former teammate Rob Grimm for 25^th place on the UMBC all-time list with 109 points (89-20-109). The team captain has netted 27 goals in 2013, including a career-high six scores in an early April victory over Vermont.

Nate Lewnes earned AEC Rookie of the Week honors in late March, after a season-best six-point effort (2g, 4a) in a victory over High Point. He has scored 12 goals and added 10 assists in his initial collegiate season.

Older brother Neill earned All-Academic honors back in 2011, but missed most of the 2012 campaign after tearing his ACL in the conference opener vs. Hartford.  He has returned in 2013 to play a key role as a defensive midfielder for the Retrievers. A team captain, Lewnes is maintaining a 3.35 grade-point average in financial economics.

Murphy is a repeat selection to the team after earning his first honor in 2012. The political science major has seen action at both close defense and long-stick midfield in 2013 and is second on the squad in ground balls (48) and caused turnovers (16). Also a team captain, Murphy possesses a grade-point average of 3.78.

Seventy-two Retrievers have earned America East honors in UMBC’s ten league campaigns.

The third-seeded Retrievers (6-7, 3-2 America East) face No. 2 Hartford (7-6, 3-2) in the first America East semifinal match-up on Thursday, May 2. The opening face-off is set for 4:30 p.m. at Stony Brook’s LaValle Stadium.

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10. Foreigner (Friday 8pm Pier Six Pavilion), Earth, Wind & Fire (Sunday 7:30pm Pier Six Pavilion); M3 Rock Festival feat. Bret Michaels, Twisted Sister (Friday & Saturday Merriweather Post Pavilion); The Lone Bellow (Thursday 7:30pm West Mt. Vernon Park); Papa Roach (Wednesday 8pm Rams Head Live), Limp Bizkit (Friday 9pm Rams Head Live); Old Man Brown (Friday 8pm 8×10 Club); Fear Factory (Sunday 8pm Baltimore Soundstage); Howie Day (Sunday 8pm Rams Head on Stage); Kris Allen (Friday 9pm Rams Head Center Stage); Art Attack feat. MGMT (Friday 6pm Byrd Stadium); Jim James (Tuesday 7pm 9:30 Club), Tedeschi Trucks Band (Wednesday 7pm 9:30 Club), Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite (Thursday 7pm 9:30 Club), Foals (Sunday 7pm 9:30 Club), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Monday 7pm 9:30 Club); Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers (Thursday 8:30pm State Theatre); Chili Cook-Off feat. Soundgarden, AWOLNation, Silversun Pickups, Capital Cities (Saturday RFK Stadium); “Iron Man 3: Heroes Fall” and Kenny Chesney “Life on a Rock” available in stores/on iTunes (Tuesday)

When I heard The Lone Bellow was coming I legitimately nearly cancelled my trip to Louisville. Crikes they’re tremendous.

Can someone call Old Man Brown for me and ask if they’ll play my wedding?

I wish someone would force MGMT and Chiddy Bang to do a record together.

Look, I’m a warm-blooded mammal and all so Soundgarden is great…but don’t you sorta feel like Soundgarden actually limits the brilliance of Chris Cornell’s vocals sometimes?

9. “Iron Man 3” out in theaters (Friday); “Silver Linings Playbook” available on Blu-Ray/DVD (Tuesday); TowsonTown Festival (Saturday & Sunday Downtown Towson); Kinetic Sculpture Race (Saturday American Visionary Art Museum/Inner Harbor)

Ask the question “if you could trade places with any fictional person ever” to an adult male. If they say anything besides “Tony Stark”, kick them out of our country.

Also, I have no idea what a “Kinetic Sculpture Race” is, but a Google Image Search provided me WHAT THE F*CK?

(Continued on Page 2…)

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It is the second honor in a three-week span for the Retriever first-year player.

Young scored four second half goals, including the game-winner with 1:18 remaining as UMBC rallied to defeat Binghamton, 10-9 and secure a berth in the America East Tournament on Saturday. He now has a team-best 28 goals on the season, which is the tied for the third-most for a UMBC freshman in its Division I history.

Young has three game-winning goals on the campaign, including two in the final three minutes of one-goal victories vs. Stony Brook and Binghamton. He is the leading freshman scorer in conference games in America East, with 3.60 points per game- good for seventh on the complete list.

UMBC is preparing for its tenth consecutive America East Tournament appearance and will face Hartford in the first semifinal contest on Thursday, May 2. The 4:30 p.m. start will take place at Stony Brook University’s LaValle Stadium.

For all the latest information on the America East Men’s Lacrosse Championship, including to purchase tickets, visit Championship Central at www.americaeast.com.

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UMBC (6-7, 3-2 America East) has participated in the four-team championship in all ten of its league campaigns. The Bearcats were eliminated from tournament play and finish the season at 5-9, 1-4.

The 2013 America East Championship will open at LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, N.Y., with the semifinal contests taking place on Thursday, May 2 and the title game occurring on May 4.

Young, who led the Retrievers with four scores, scored his third game-winning goal of the season. He also recorded the game-winner with less than three minutes remaining in a 13-12 win at Stony Brook on April 13.

“It was a typical America East game-for our conference to have five teams still in the hunt on the last week of the regular season is pretty special,“ said head coach Don Zimmerman. “It’s Senior Day, it’s emotional. It’s always a little bit of a struggle on Senior Day, but I am very proud of the team, the way they hung in there, came back from several deficits and came back in the end.”

The game was tied on eight occasions, as the Retrievers trailed by one goal six times and 8-6 late in the third quarter. The Bearcats took the lone two-goal advantage of the game on a goal by attackman Matt Springer with 18 seconds to play in the third stanza. But UMBC snatched momentum back as senior attackman/midfielder Joe Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) netted a desperation shot with less than one second remaining in the stanza.

Young knotted the game at 8-all 2:42 into the final quarter, beating BU netminder Max Schefler low from 11 yards away. UMBC would then take its first lead of the game, as senior middie Dave Brown (Coopersburg, Pa./The Hill School) found Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) inside and the senior attackman converted from close range with 8:55 remaining.

Binghamton’s Emmett O’Hara brought his side back to even, tallying with 3:29 remaining and the Bearcats won the ensuing draw. But BU hit the side-netting on a shot with 1:52 to play and the Retrievers cleared and called a time-out. Junior midfielder Conor Finch (Westminster, Md./Boys’ Latin) drove down the right alley and dumped a pass back to Young, who stepped into a 10-yard shot and it ticked the stick of Schefler before hitting the back of the net.

UMBC won the next face-off and never allowed the Bearcats to possess the ball in the final minute of play.

The Retrievers, now 39-13 in ten years of America East Conference play, have never lost back-to-back conference contests. UMBC improved to 22-4 at UMBC Stadium vs. AEC foes during the regular year and to 8-0 vs. Binghamton on the friendly turf in Baltimore.

Young and Springer each scored four times for their respective teams. Lustgarten added two goals and an assist for UMBC, while Gregoire recorded a pair of goals and now has 15 in league play in 2013.

Both goalkeepers excelled in the contest. UMBC sophomore Wes DiRito (Odenton, Md./DeMatha) turned away 12 Binghamton shots, while Schefler also recorded 12 saves. The Retrievers outshot the Bearcats, 35-27.

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With a win, the Retrievers would clinch a spot in the four-team playoff for the tenth time in ten league seasons. UMBC could be seeded No. 2, 3 or 4. The combination of a Retriever loss and Stony Brook victory vs. Albany would eliminate UMBC from the postseason. Hartford plays at Vermont in the other league contest.

The Retrievers will honor their 14 seniors in ceremonies prior to today’s contest. They are Dave Brown, Adam Cohen, Nick Doub, Matt Gregoire, Scott Hopmann, Joe Impallaria, Scott Jones, Neill Lewnes, Joe Lustgarten, Sam McKelvey, Ethan Murphy, Tony Spada, Lucas Wood, and Jake Zimmerman.

Gregoire scored a career-best five points, but the Retrievers fell, 16-10, to tenth-ranked Albany at John Fallon Field on April 19. Gregoire tallied four goals and added an assist, recording the third four-goal game of his career and giving him 10 goals in three games vs. Albany. He also leads UMBC and is tied for fourth in the conference with 15 points in four league contests.

Jones leads the club in scoring with 27 goals and 32 total points. Jones became the 30th Retriever to hit the 100-point plateau and now has 108 points (88-20-108) total points for his career. 

UMBC is 4-1 at home this year and 21-4 at home in 10 years of America East Conference competition.

Binghamton (5-8, 1-3 AE) came up just short on April 20, dropping an 8-7 America East conference game to visiting Vermont (4-9, 1-3 AE) at the Bearcats Sports Complex. The Catamounts used a 4-2 first quarter and never trailed as they secured their first conference win of the season. Bearcat junior Brandon Planck netted three goals for the Bearcats who fell to 1-3 in conference play.  Planck netted his fifth career hat trick in the loss. JR M Michael Antinozzi scored two goals and added an assist, increasing his career point tally to 89.  JR A Matt Springer he tied the single season goals record of 32 set just last season by teammate Michael Antinozzi.

Binghamton has had six games decided by two goals or less and are 3-3 in those six contests. They are 2-4 on the road this season.  The Bearcats can earn a spot in the playoffs with a win today and a Hartford win over Vermont.

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