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.