UMBC gave up three goals in the first nine minutes of their game against #6 Princeton and could not come back from it as they dropped to 1-4 on the season, essentially eliminating any chance of an at large bid in the NCAA tournament.

Chris McBride, Paul Barnes, and Scott MacKenzie all found a way past sophomore goalie Brian McCullough, who only made one save in his second start.

Shane Ryzner finally put UMBC on the board when he took a pass from Maxx Davis with 5:29 left in the first quarter and finished for his second goal.

But Princeton was able to score two more tines in the quarter as Jack McBrise and Rob Engelke each scored, sparking yet another change in goal as McCullough was pulled for senior Kevin Kohri.

Kohri recorded six saves in his 45 minutes of action but the offense could not control the ball and that gave Princeton a chance to rip off 25 shots in the span, five of which they connected on.

Tyler Moni and Engelke were able to slip quick goals past Kohri before Rob Grimm capitalized on a man-up situation and long stick midfielder Mike Camardo scored his first goal of the season.

With five seconds remaining Jack McBride got on more goal off to put UMBC in an 8-3 hole at the break, which MacKenzie extended after the break.

Senior attack Matt Latham scored his seven goal of the season as Kyle Wimer continues his streak of games with a point to 24.

Mike Chanenchuck put one final insurance goal up for Princeton with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Though UMBC was able to help the Tigers scoreless in the fourth quarter, only Wimer was able to score a goal as the team lost by five.

But the same thing cannot be said about the defense that boasts five seniors.

After a strong first half three quarters which the team was only trailing by three, they were outscored 6-1 in the fourth quarter with the help of three penalties, all of which Johns Hopkins scored on.

Brian McCullough, who only played 4:45 last season, replaced Adam Cohen and made his first career start in goal. He made eight saves in a very high pressure situation against Johns Hopkins, but still looked rattled against their high powered offense. With some more game experience he should be able to settle down a bit.

On offense, UMBC finally clicked. Junior midfielder Bobby Stockton recorded his second hat trick of the season, giving him 10 goals on the year.

Jamie Kimbles and Rob Grimm each netted two goals a piece while Kyle Wimer, Matt Latham, and Shane Ryzner each had one.

They fell behind 4-0 in just eight minutes but were able to bounce back with two goals of their own from Bobby Stockton and Jamie Kimbles, both of which were assisted by Kyle Wimer.

The two teams essentially switched goals for the rest of the game as Kimbles led the team with three goals while Matt Latham and Stockton each scored a pair.

UMBC is 1-2 and will have to play No. 5 Johns Hopkins, No. 7 Princeton, a No. 6 Maryland in their next three games.

But the extra day of rest and the bump up in the tournament did not help out. UMBC seemed to play too hard and were over pursuing on defense, forcing shots, and forcing passes.

UMBC fell behind 13-2 in just four minutes, but when they finally settled down it was too late.

Freshmen Shawn Grant and Adrian Satchell each gave UMBC a lot of hope in the game as Grant scored 17 with 5 assists while Satchell had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

The Retrievers end their season with a 4-26 record.

Carlee Cassidy led the team with 18 points and had eight rebounds in what would be the final game of her career, while Michelle Kurowski scored 13 points and had eight rebounds.

UMBC was able to slow the game down to a pace favorable for them, but they just were not able to hit shots. Erin Brown shot six threes and none of them hit the rim.

After being down by only two points with two minutes remaining in the first half, Boston U went on an 8-0 run to end the half, which completely killed UMBC at break and after the half they came out very flat and still could not get anything done offensively.

The defense played well but Boston U’s Alex Young hit four threes and scored 23 points while the they outrebounded UMBC 43-35.

After leading the entire first half, Stony Brook went on a 16-2 run to start the second half to take a big lead over UMBC. After that UMBC struggled to get things going and the offense shutdown in the second half.

Michelle Kurowski led the team with 14 points while Erin Brown got the start over an injured Katie Brooks and scored 11 points and had 10 rebounds.

Oddly enough though UMBC is in a much better position to make a run in the tournament with the loss.

If they would have won the game they would have had to face Binghamton in the first round. UMBC does not match up well against the Bearcats and they lost to them twice this season by an average of 23.5 points.

But with the loss they will face Boston U, who they have beaten twice this season, including a 23-point second half comeback on Wednesday. Boston U may be a much more talented team, and UMBC did only eek by them each time, but they match up well against them.

With the victory the Retrievers are just an Albany loss away from the eighth seed in the America East Conference tournament, meaning they were not the worst in their conference. They lost to Albany two times this season, but those were the Great Danes only conference victories.

But after not even being competitive against Binghamton, getting the win and playing well means so much more going into the conference tournament next weekend.

Against New Hampshire the Retrievers had both their best offensive and defensive night of the season, scoring a season high 79 points and holding New Hampshire to a season low (in terms of points allowed) 50 points.

Sophomore guard Chris De La Rosa scored a game high 23 points and had seven assists as he led five other player in double figures to a victory. Brian Neller made three threes for 11 points while Chauncey Gilliam had his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Robbie Jackson, Matt Spadafora, and Shawn Grant all scored 10 points.

UMBC just could not be stopped in the first half. They shot 66.7% from the floor and 75% from behind the line. Meanwhile, New Hampshire shot just 30.8%, and that dropped to 29.6% in the second half.

After two early four shots by Russell Graham in the first minute, UMBC got the lead and never looked back. They led by 22 points at the half and built it up to 33 with just 10 minutes to go in the game.

The Retrievers simply just out hustled the Wildcats. They out-rebounded New Hampshire 43-33, had 32 points in the pain, and 14 second chance points.

Carlee Cassidy scored 25 points and had nine rebounds as the UMBC women’s basketball team came back from a 23 point second half deficit to beat Boston U, 58-57, and remain in fourth place in the America East Conference.

In the first half the team could do nothing right. They were shooting just 21.7%, and let the Terriers convert 48.3% of their shots and at the half they were trailing by 19 points.

Boston U quickly made that a 23 points deficit for UMBC, but a three-pointer by Meghan Colabella broke open a 19 point run for the Retrievers.

Boston U got back up by nine points, but UMBC didn’t stop fighting. They got their first lead outside of the first few seconds with fine minutes remaining. But it still wouldn’t be that easy. With two minutes left Boston U took the lead back, but Cassidy scored the final four points for UMBC to get the one point victory.

Michelle Kurowski scored 14 points while Colabella had 11.

It was a tough defensive battle the whole way. The teams turned the ball over 31 times and neither team shot higher than 31%.

“We forced the ball and didn’t capitalize on opportunities,” said Loyola coach Jen Adams. “The ball just didn’t fall in place.”

But Loyola had the better luck of the two sides, largely because Stoothoff’s career day in goal.

“Our offense didn’t connect but big plays like that sparks it,” said the sophomore net-minder. “Great defensive plays can help out.”

Despite the team scoring 15 goals in an upset victory over 10th ranked Virginia just three days ago, Adams said she still has not seen what she needs from the offense.

“We can have a high powered offense but we just need to find a rhythm,” she said. “I’ve seen it in practice but we have to figure out how to get that in a game…we could be dangerous when our forwards and middies come together.”

For UMBC, 2009 first team all-conference goalie Katie Quick also had her fair share of success, stopping nine Greyhound shots, but the offense that had 34 goals in two games could not get much going. Amanda Pappas, who scored seven goals against George Mason in their last game, was held scoreless, however, sophomore Emily Coady attempted to spark a second half comeback with three second half goals.

“She’s a quiet player off the field but we have confidence in her and tell her don’t be afraid to lead from behind the goal,” said first year UMBC coach Kelly Berger, who made her home debut.

UMBC has two more very tough games directly ahead of them as they will face #13 Vanderbilt on Saturday and then play at Towson next Wednesday.

“We don’t have to be the best right now,” Berger said. “We need to be the best at the end of the season.”

Pregame:
Loyola is currently nationally ranked (11) in the coaches polls while UMBC is just out of it. A win for either should jump them in the national polls.

For Loyola, Grace Gavin scored four of her seven goals in the 11-10 win over Virginia while Emily Grace had five.

For UMBC, Amanda Pappas scored 7 of her 11 goals against George Mason and leads a high power offense that has 34 goals in two games.

Starters:

Loyola (1-1):

A- Grace Gavin, Carolina Hager

M- Meg Decker, Cass Cursaro, Abby Moulton, Virginia Weber, Cara Filippelli, Emily Gibson

D- Ana Heneberry, Ashley Moulton, Tara Gardner

GK- Kerry Stoothoff

UMBC (2-0):

A- Erika Braerman, Emily Coady, Amanda Gable

M- Ashley Stodter, Bria Phillips, Amanda Pappas

D- Jamie Fahey, Lauren Mundell, Kristen Milligan, Sarah Willis, C.J. Durham

GK- Kate Quick

First Half:

30:00- UMBC wins opening draw (Amanda Gable)

29:21- Amanda Pappas has an early free position shot attempt but Kerry Stoothoff makes and impressive save right off the bat.

24:22- Loyola’s Emily Gibson intercepted a pass and UMBC had no chance to stop the unopposed shot by after the failed clear attempt. Loyola 1-0

18:56- Grace Gavin picked up her first goal of the game after a quick toss on a free position shot by Abby Rehfuss. Loyola 2-0

17:51- Unlucky turn of events for UMBC. Ashley Stodter scored UMBC’s first goal but it was taken away because a foul before the shot. Stoothoff then picked up her fourth save of the game. Stodter picked the ball up right away after the save but Stoothoff made another quick save, keeping UMBC off the board.

16:07- Cara Filippelli gave Loyola a big third goal with a shot over the right shoulder. Loyola 3-0

13:18- Erika Braerman put UMBC on the scoreboard after breaking through a three player wall by Loyola. Loyola 3-1

4:14- Timeout Loyola. This is an absolute goalie battle. Stoothoff has eight for Loyola and Quick has five. They have both made some very impressive saves to keep their teams in the game.

Out of the timeout Loyola is likely going to switch to defensive mode to try and keep this two goal advantage for the final few minutes of the half while UMBC is going to be on full offensive mode to cut the Loyola lead.

3:15- Meg Decker made a nice cut against the defense and made a quick pass to Carolina Hager, who got the ball past UMBC goalie Kate Quick to give Loyola a three goal advantage again. Loyola 4-1

Half Time- Loyola 4, UMBC 1

This is clearly a defensive battle, UMBC is down by three goals but is certainly not out of the game. Kerry Stoothoff has nine saves for Loyola while Kate Quick has five goals for UMBC. The Retrievers certainly have enough offensive firepower to get back in the game but Loyola’s defense has been stingy all season.

Second Half:

21:15- It took nearly nine minutes for a goal to be scored but Emily Coady made a nice spin move to the right to get an open shot. Loyola 4-2

20:53- Emily Coady struck right back with another goal. After a throw, defender Jamie Fahey showed her speed and streaked up the field and made the inside pass to Coady, who made a quick dodge and finished. Loyola 4-3

19:21- The offenses are starting to heat up, UMBC tried to get the ball back to the goalie despite having two Loyola players near here. After a foul Abby Rehfuss scored on a free position shot right from the middle of the field.

17:37- UMBC got out of a really bad situation with great defense. Katie Quick was out of the goal with the ball and had a pass intercepted, but Kristen Milligan knocked the ball out of the Cara Filippelli’s stick before she could make the pass to the open attacker.

16:12- After getting out of a similar situation Loyola intercepted a pass with Katie Quick up the field. Cara Cursaro made the made the pass up the field to Grace Gavin for her second goal of the game, this time with a wide open net. Loyola 6-3

16:12- UMBC timeout

11:49- Emily Coady is relentless. She’s netted her third goal in this attempt at a comeback, all in the second half. Loyola 6-4

7:29- There is still time for UMBC to comeback but Caroline Hager may have put the final nail in the coffin with her second goal of the game, putting Loyola up by three goals once again. Loyola 7-4

Final Score: Loyola 7, UMBC 4

UMBC certainly showed they are capable of being competitive but Loyola’s defense proved to be one of the top units in the nation. Sophomore Kerry Stoothoff had a career high 16 saves and held UMBC out of real striking distance. For UMBC, everything was shot up high, a few shots at the ground it could have been a different story.

Binghamton freshman Dylan Talley scored a career high 22 points against UMBC in their last outing, this time he set a new mark, scoring 25 in just 27 minutes of action.

Junior Mahamoud Jabbi also set a career high so 20 points while also grabbing 11 rebounds.

After missing their first few shots, UMBC fell behind 8-0, and the game was essentially over already. The closest they got after that was withing three, but it only took Binghamton three minutes to get a double-digit lead that would last the rest of the game.

The closest UMBC would get in the second half was 15.

They will finish their regular season at New Hampshire on Wednesday, February 24.