Mike Donnelly
Staff Writer

Katie Brooks regained her spot in the starting lineup after coming off the bench in her last 11 outings. She proceeded to scored 16 points, including two three-pointers, and passed off a team high four assists. [Corey Johns- TRW]

With only eight games left in the regular season, the women’s basketball team headed into Hartford to try and shake off a disappointing loss at home against Stony Brook. However, the Hawks were 9-0 in conference play and 18-3 overall. The Retrievers were simply no match for Hartford and lost by 40 points with the score 85-45.

The Retrievers started the first half in a 6-0 hole before senior Carlee Cassidy (13 points, three assists, two steals) scored the first points for UMBC with a three pointer to make the score 6-3. Sophomore Tope Obajolu (ten points, one block) had three straight turnovers in the next few minutes before finally scoring to make the score 10-5.

Hartford went on a 25-9 run, making the score 35-14 and giving the Hawks a 21 point lead. Three foul shots by Obajolu and sophomore Michelle Kurowski (three rebounds, two points) brought the Retrievers to within 18 points but the Hawks scored ten straight points before junior Chelsea Barker (eight points, two assists) made UMBC’s final points of the half.

Hartford had a 29 point lead over the Retrievers with the score 48-19. UMBC shot only 30.4 percent from the floor and only made one three point shot all half, the first points scored by Cassidy. They finished 1-12 (12.5%) in three-pointers.

The Hawks, meanwhile, shot 57.6% in field goal percentage and went 6-12 from beyond the three-point line (50%). The Retrievers were also out rebounded 22-11 in the first half.

The second half started no better than the first. The Hawks went on a 10-0 run to pad their lead to 39 points. It wasn’t until 14:13 left in the game when freshman Kim Browning made her only score of the game that UMBC finally scored points in the second half, making the score 58-21.

The two teams traded points for a few minutes until Hartford had built a 41 point lead with the score 65-24. A three-pointer by sophomore Erin Brown and a layup by Obajolu gave the Retrievers five straight points and brought UMBC within 36 points.

Hartford scored 11 straight points after that and built their biggest lead of the day. The Hawks were up 47 points on UMBC with the score 76-29 with 6:29 remaining.

The Retrievers were not going to give up however, with Barker scoring on a layup, Cassidy draining two three-pointers and junior Meghan Colabella ( four rebounds, three points) adding one three pointer of her own.

Sophomore Katie Brooks (four points, four rebounds, four assists) added points with a free throw shot and a layup to get UMBC back to being down 36 points with the score 79-43. However, with only 2:43 remaining in the game, the outcome was never in doubt at that point.

Hartford answered with two three-pointers and Barker ended the game for UMBC with a jumper to make the final score 85-45.

The Retrievers shot much better in the second half, both in field goal percentage (40) and 44 percent from beyond the line. Hartford shot worse in the second half, though still better than UMBC. The Hawks were shooting 48.3 percent and were 44.4 percent for threes.

UMBC was also out rebounded again in the second half. The Retrievers ended the game out rebounded 45-21.

The loss dropped UMBC to 9-13 overall and 3-6 in conference play until they hosted Maine on Sunday.

After postponing the game until Sunday due to a blizzard hitting the area, the Retrievers were able to beat the Maine Black Bears 57-45.

The game started off well for UMBC. Brooks (16 points, four assists) scored a three-pointer to open the game and then made another to make the score 6-3.

Maine tied the score at eight and at 12 before taking the lead with the score 14-12. Cassidy scored from beyond the three-point line to put the score at 15-14. The Retrievers never trailed after that.

Points by Obajolu (16 points, three blocks) and Cassidy (15 points, four rebounds) gave UMBC a four point lead at the half with the score 21-17.

In ten conference games sophomore center Topé Obajolu has completely dominated competition and has more than doubled her non-conference total in points per game (5.2 to 12.0) and has increased her rebounding average (3.3 to 4.9) and her field goal percentage (41.1% to 53.7%). [Corey Johns- TRW]

The Retrievers shot much better than their performance at Hartford. UMBC earned 42.9 percent both in field goal and three-point percentage. Maine, however, only shot 28 percent and made just one three-pointer in the half to go 1-7 (14.3 percent).

UMBC was still out rebounded in the half (19-13), but not to the degree of the last game.

The second half opened with UMBC starting the scoring with another three pointer, this time by Cassidy. Obajolu added two free throws and the Retrievers went up nine with the score 26-17.

A three pointer by Brown (seven points, two steals) gave UMBC its biggest lead of the day with 10 points, making the score 31-21. The two teams traded points and the 10 point lead still held with 8:26 to go in the game with the score 43-33.

Brooks made two free throws and Cassidy followed with a three-pointer to make the score 48-33, putting the Retrievers up by 15 with 7:00 to go in the game, their biggest lead of the game.

Maine was able to bring the score back to a 10 point lead finally, making the score 55-45 but there were only 39 seconds left in the game. A layup by Obajolu sealed the win for UMBC, making the score 57-45.

The Retrievers shot even better in the second half, shooting 50 percent from the field. They made 3-8 three pointers in the second half while Maine made none (0-7). UMBC also went perfect from the line in the second half (11-11).

Rebounding was still a problem with the team, though not as bad as against Hartford. The Retrievers were out rebounded for the game 33-25. Only two of those rebounds were off the offensive side. Junior Michelle Brokans led the team with five rebounds.

The win snapped a two game losing streak for UMBC and gave the team their first home win since December 2nd against Navy.

The Retrievers (10-13, 4-6) now travel to play Binghamton (8-15, 4-6) on Wednesday, February 10 at 7 p.m. A win against Binghamton would put UMBC in a tie with Stony Brook for fourth place in the conference.

The team then heads off to face New Hampshire (8-16, 3-8) for a game on Saturday February 13th at 1pm.

Comments can be sent to mdon1@umbc.edu.

Ryan McCarthy
Contributing Writer

While UMBC suffered an intense snowstorm this past weekend, the women’s lacrosse team was still able to keep their composure and win the first game of their season in Jacksonville, Florida.

“The sunny, breezy, warm weather was a lot different from what we are used to since it has been so cold back home,” said coach Kelly Berger. “Luckily, we were able to take advantage of the beautiful weather and play our game.

Berger also mentioned that she was very proud of her player’s focus while dealing with the stress the snow storm brought to UMBC. Apparently, the Retrievers were very focused, beating the Jacksonville Dolphins 18-2.

Junior Erika Braerman led the Retrievers squad with six points; four goals and two assists. Also, junior midfielders: Kristen Milligan, Amanda Pappas, and Ashley Stodter all contributed to UMBC’s victory scoring three goals each. UMBC’s senior goalie Kate Quick was also a key component in UMBC’s victory, only allowing two goals into her cage as the UMBC women’s lacrosse team won the game at the Dolphins’ D.B. Milne Field.

“As a senior, I can rely on Kate to keep her head in the game,” said Berger.

This weekend marked Berger’s first game as a head coach for the Retrievers. Also, ironically, it was the first game in the history of Jacksonville’s women’s lacrosse program. However, despite the hype that the Dolphin’s brought to their first game, the Retrievers were till able to triumph. The Retrievers ground ball play may be the reason why these women were so successful in Florida.

“I was proud of the hustle my players brought to Jacksonville. It really showed with ground balls as we broke down the fundamentals of the game,” said Berger.

The women’s lacrosse team had a great experience in Jacksonville, and will hopefully have a lot more as their season continues. They were happy to make it back to UMBC safely with all the harsh weather conditions surrounding them. The women’s lacrosse team is looking forward to getting better this week until their next game, when they will travel south to Fairfax, Virginia in order to play George Mason.

Comments can be sent to mry1@umbc.edu.

Corey Johns
Editorial Staff

Sophomore point guard Chris De La Rosa led the team with 18 points and shot a team high 50% from the field. He also shot 85% from the free throw line and dished out a team high four assists. [Corey Johns- TRW]

After having their game against Vermont moved up a day to avoid the snow storm, the men’s basketball team looked like they could have used the extra practice as they could not keep up in the 79-60 loss.

Neither team could get much of anything going on offense in the game. The flow was interrupted 52 times with fouls, resulting in a staggering 71 free throw attempts.

But Vermont found a way to get out of the gates quickly and find a double-digit lead in just eight minutes, and they never looked back. At that point Vermont was shooting 63% while UMBC was shooting just 25% from the field.

Both teams played sloppy. The Catamounts turned the ball over 21 times and committed 25 fouls, while UMBC turned the ball over 11 times and committed 27 fouls. However, despite turning the ball over so much Vermont managed to make 48.9% of their shots while UMBC struggled the entire game, shooting just 35.6%.

The game very much played out like the last time these two teams met up. In the first reigning two-time player and defensive players of the year was held to zero points and just three rebounds because of a double-team he was met with the entire game, but that left Garvey Young, a career 28.5% three-point shooter, open as he scored a career high 20 points and made three baskets from behind the arc. Sixteen of his points came in the first half.

After being down by 10 points at halftime, Randy Monroe was not pleased with the way his starting five came out in the second half and in less than two minutes subbed all five out in favor of Robbie Jackson, Brian Neller, Nick Groce, Shawn Grant, and Bakari Smith.

That group did not let Vermont pull away, and were cutting the deficit, but fouls forced Grant back to the bench, bringing Chauncey Gilliam back in and with the 14 point deficit combining with a foul call that he felt did not go his way, he was issued with a technical foul, and his fourth personal of the game.

Once that happened the starters were being filtered back in, and Vermont built their lead up to 21 points with 2:23 left in the game before Monroe was issued his fourth technical foul of the season because of frustration in the way his team was playing.

While Vermont was being carried by Young and Evan Fjeld, eight points, in the first half, their two stars came alive in the second half as Blakely scored 13 points, nine of which came from the foul line, and Maurice Joseph scored eight points, giving him 13 in the game. Brendan Bald also scored seven points in the second half, giving him nine for the game.

Sophomore guard Chauncey Gilliam has constantly been met with double-teams by opposing defenses, which has caused him to struggle from the field, shooting just 37% in his last five games, despite scoring in double figures in all of them. [Corey Johns-TRW]

UMBC however only had two players score in double figures as Chris De La Rosa led the team with 18 points and four assists and Chauncey Gilliam scored 15 points.

Despite having scored in double figures in seven straight games, Gilliam has not had much success shooting the ball over the last four. He is just 15-of-43 (34.8%) from the field but has capitalized on his free throw opportunities going 20-of-24 (83.3%) from the line.

Monroe was unavailable for questioning following the game.

Donald Daniels
Editorial Staff

Courtesy Athletic Communications

Junior Erika Braerman and the women’s lacrosse team got of to a good start this past Saturday. The Retrievers blew away the Dolphins 18-2 in Jacksonville, Fla. Braerman led the team with six points as she had four goals and two assists in the season opener. She was also one of four Retrievers that scored at least three goals as the team jumped on Jacksonville early and never looked back. Last season, Braerman, netted nine goals and eleven assists in the sixteen games she played in 2009. Future performances like this one from Brearman will greatly aid coach Kelly Berger and the Retrievers this season. With the departure of attacks Kara Dorr and Abbey Swift the women’s lacrosse team will need players to fill the void of those players. If Braerman can continue play at this level alongside teammate Amanda Pappas the team can be formidable on the offensive end of the field. A strong offense will help the teams chances of dispelling a three America East Conference tournament drought.

Honorable Mention: Track and field sophomore Joshua Hewitson who finished second in the 500 meter-dash in a time of 1:04.53 at the Collegiate Invitational and qualified for the 1C4A meet.

Comments can be sent to ddaniels@retrieverweekly.com.

Corey Johns
Editorial Staff

While the women’s lacrosse team was expected to win by a large margin in their season opener of Jacksonville, who was playing their inaugural game in the sport, they did answer many questions in the 18-2 victory.

Last season the team came just won win away from a spot in the America East Conference tournament, but since then the team that ranked fourth in the conference with 11.71 goals per game lost 31% of their offense, highlighted with losses of Kara Dorr (40 goals), and Abbey Swift (20 goals). With the team only returning 8.0 goals per game, the question coming into the season was who could step up and improve the offense?

Juniors Amanda Pappas (28 goals in 2009) and Ashley Stodter (25 goals), and sophomore Emily Coady (22 goals) seemed like top candidates for the job coming into the season, but just how much could they add to their totals when defenses were now keying on them?

But even though the team was facing a Jacksonville team that had never played a women’s lacrosse game prior, and was filled with freshman, most of whom were no even marginally sought after by colleges, the Retriever got a good glimpse of who could potentially step up under new coach Kelly Berger.

Pappas, Stodter, and Coady combined for seven goals but Erika Braerman and Kristen Milligan could be the two keys for the offense stepping up this season. Braerman, who only scored nine goals last season, nearly halved that total in just one game with four. Milligan missed 11 games last season but still only managed one goal in six games. Against Jacksonville she was one of three players to score hat-tricks. Her move from a primarily defensive role to an offensive role could be a pleasant addition to the team.

But one of the big additions on the team could be Alicia Krause, a transfer from Duquesne who scored 20 goals as a freshman with the Dukes. In her debut at UMBC he scored twice while starting at attack.

Those goal totals will likely go down as the team faces tougher competition as the season goes on, but all of them showed an improvement in finishing and ball placement, which is why the win shows promise as both of those abilities speaks to what the player can do, not what defense can limit a player to do.

While the defense finished third in the conference last season after allowing less than 10 goals per game, senior Sarah Willis, a second-team all-conference defender, and C.J. Durham, welcomes two new faces to the starting unit, sophomore transfer from Hofstra, Lauren Mundell, and freshman Jamie Fahey. While allowing just two goals could mean poor fundamentals or finishing by the offense, the fact that Jacksonville was only allowed six shots on goals speaks to the defense.

The bigger test may be next weekend when the team travels to George Mason, but the team picked to finish fifth in the America East Conference showed that they may have what it takes to be a bit of a surprise this season.

Comments can be sent to cjohns2@umbc.edu.

Aaron Schwartz
Online Contributor

The UMBC Retrievers men’s lacrosse team hosted the Villanova University Wildcats in their first home scrimmage of the 2010 season. This was a match-up of two top 20 teams from the closing polls of the 2009 season; UMBC ended last season ranked ninth in the USILA coaches poll and Villanove ranked 19th. But the 2010 season is underway and last year’s rankings are gone from the minds of these two teams.

After dealing with last year’s weaknesses and replacing the holes left by graduating seniors, the Retrievers came into this first home scrimmage of the year with many questions about their team. The biggest questions facing UMBC were about choosing a starting goalkeeper and improving on their worst-in-the-NCAA face-off percentage. It was apparent from the early moments of this exhibition that neither question would be answered.

The opening quarter set the tone for the rest of the game, as the Wildcats won the opening face-off and worked the ball with timely passing to put the first goal of the game on the board at the hands of Paul Mita. The UMBC defense tightened up as the quarter moved along, but the Villanova defense stayed strong as well. With only 15 seconds left in the first quarter the Wildcats struck again with their second goal.

Mita opened up the second quarter with another early goal before UMBC got on the score sheet with a goal by Matt Latham, who was assisted by Maxx Davis. This quarter would prove much more eventful; Mita scored his third goal for Villanova with just 12 minutes left in the quarter. The teams would trade goal for goal as both Bobby Stockton and Chris Jones recorded goals, with a Rob Grimm assist on the latter. UMBC went into the half trailing 5-3.

The third quarter proved to be another defensive battle, as each team only managed one goal each. Grimm was responsible for scoring the lone UMBC goal, giving him his second point of the game. After a quick Wildcat goal, Grimm, assisted by Jordan Pierce, recorded his third point early in the fourth quarter. Kyle Wimer added another UMBC goal to bring the Retrievers within one goal of Villanova.

The Villanova offense, however, overpowered the Retrievers, and they recorded another two goals to bring the score to 9-6. But the highlight of the match occurred late in the fourth quarter as UMBC’s Scott Hopmann scored the final goal of the game, using a Canadian tuck to slip through a defensive double-team.

This match-up proved disappointing for the Retrievers, as they lost to Villanova 9-7. Also, they made little progress in choosing their starting goalkeeper, as none of the four potential starters were outstanding. Finally, the team needed more time to find a face-off man, as all three potential players won just one clean draw each during the game.

UMBC will have one more scrimmage to try and answer these questions. They host Loyola (MD) at noon on February 12, at UMBC stadium.

Comments can be sent to aarons1@umbc.edu.

Zach Seidel
Senior Staff Writer

The UMBC Track and Field competed at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational at The Armory in New York City this past weekend.

Sophomore Joshua Hewitson used an IC4A qualifying time of 1:04.53 to take second in 500 meter-dash, while teammates Chris Snyder, Dominic Devaud, Aristotle Johnson and Michael Christmas qualified for the IC4A in the distance medley relay with a time of 10:09.48. Hewitson just missed qualifying for the IC4A in the 400m, missing by .29 seconds.

Senior Suzanne Gabriel took sixth in the 5,000 meter run in a time 17:37.16, fellow distance runners, junior Chris Bowie and senior Andrew Madison, took third and fourth, respectively, in the 5000 meter run.

The women’s 4×200 meter relay team of Nicole Smalls, Ashley Ajayi, Tawana Wilson, and Britney Foreman broke the school record with a time of 1:43.8, beating the school record by.4 seconds. Seniors Mohamed Koroma, Jason Powell, Adrian Arthur and Antonio Thomas just missed a school record in finishing ninth in the 4×200 with a time of 1:30.76, 0.25 over the record. Senior Sara Parkinson took ninth in the 1-mile run in a time of 5:00.17.

Seniors Camal Pugh and Foreman each ran season best times at the meet, Foreman ran a 7.76 in the 60 meter dash, and Pugh missed a school record by .04 in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.19. Sophomore Aaron Brooks threw a personal best 49-7 in the first round of the shot put.

The Retrievers return to The Armory next weekend for the Rider/Lafayette Invitational in their final tune-up before the America East Indoor Championships at Boston University.

Comments can be sent to zseidel1@umbc.edu.

Two words could sum up the scene at UMBC on Friday afternoon around twelve
o’clock: mass exodus. UMBC, a school known for being on of the last schools to
close due to inclement weather, did so Friday when they closed campus at
1:00 p.m. Hundreds of students fled UMBC as snowflakes fell from the sky as
the one of the worst storms in Maryland history began. However, as students
were departing the campus, the UMBC men’s basketball went through their warm-ups as they
prepared to play a game against Vermont at 3 p.m, two hours after the
school was closed. The notice about the game change was made on Friday
morning and the game took place as the Retrievers lost 60-79 to the
Catamounts in front of a reported crowd of 670 people.

The men’s basketball game was originally scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. and
was moved up to the Friday afternoon slot due to the storm according to
umbcretrievers.com. In addition, the women’s basketball team, also slated to played on
Saturday, was moved back to Sunday at 11 a.m. But there was also another
UMBC sporting event to take place on Saturday as well. On Feb. 3rd an a
notice was posted on the UMBC athletic website that the men’s lacrosse team
scrimmage against Villanova to take place at UMBC at 1 p.m. on Saturday was
moved up to Feb. 4th at 4:30 p.m. The announcement showed that the athletic
department knew beforehand of the storm and made steps to have the
exhibition game take place.

Blizzards don’t happen often and when they do, changes have to be made.
With that said, however, some questions have to asked about the decision-making process that went on in regards to the Feb. 6th games.

Why did the athletic department make arrangements for the men’s lacrosse
team scrimmage days before the storm and the men’s basketball team less
than 24 hours before the blizzard? How can UMBC feel as though they should
be closed at 1 p.m. but still be fit to host a basketball game hours later?
Did the athletic department feel as though students and fans would ignore
the fact the school was closed and still attend a basketball game?

These questions will be answered in an upcoming issue of the Retriever Weekly.

Due to a threat of a winter storm the men’s and women’s basketball games scheduled for Saturday, February 6 have both been rescheduled.

The men’s game against Vermont originally scheduled for Saturday at 3:00 p.m. has been moved to today, Friday, February 5 at 3:00 p.m.

The women’s game against Maine originally scheduled for Saturday at 12:00 p.m. has been moved to Sunday, February at 12:00 p.m.

The UMBC men’s soccer team picked up two players for the 2010-2011 academic year.

The two players are junior forward Nirav Kadam, who has signed a grant-tin-aid and is currently attending UMBC. Kadam is a transfer from UNC-Greensboro.

In high school Kadam earned All-America honors after recording 12 goals as a senior. The 5′4″ striker scored eight goals in two years as a Spartan.

“Nirav should make an immediate impact in our program,” Caringi said in a press release. “He has a proven track record of creating and scoring goals. We are looking forward to him contributing to an already experienced group.”

The second addition is far from a surprise, Pete Caringi III, the 19 year coaches son.

Caringi was a First Team All-Metro honoree by the Baltimore Sun and was also an All-State honoree after serving as a captain at Calvert Hall, which he was a status he also served as a junior. During his senior season he scored 15 goals.

“Pete’s development the past two years at the club and high school level has been tremendous,” coach Caringi said in a press release. “His passion, work ethic, and ability to score goals will be an asset to our program.”