Last March Kurowski was left completely off the all-conference teams, despite averaging nearly 13 points per game and six rebounds per game.  It was no surprise to see first-team All-AEC guard Chantell Alford be an unanimous selection, along with Binghamton’s Andrea Holmes and Stony Brook’s Kirsten Jeter, who have been dominant since coming into the AEC, but despite having played just two seasons Kurowski is the second-leading active scorer in the AEC.

Kurowski should be due for a much bigger season as both Carlee Cassidy (13.3 ppg) and Katie Brooks (8.3 ppg) now gone as she is likely the go-to-scorer on the team now.

Men’s Pre-Season Poll:
1. Boston U 62 (6)
2. Stony Brook 57 (2)
3. Maine 51 (1)
4. New Hampshire 41
5. Vermont 35
6. Hartford 24
7. Binghamton 23
8. Albany 22
9. UMBC 9

Points (First places votes)

Men’s All-Conference Team:
Greer Wright, Binghamton*
John Holland, Boston U*
Jake O’Brien, Boston U
Gerald McLemore, Maine
Evan Fjeld, Vermont

*unanimous selection

Women’s Coaches Poll:
1. Boston U 64 (8)
2. Hartford 56 (1)
3. Binghamton 50
4. Stony Brook 39
5. UMBC 37
6. Vermont 30
7. Albany 18
8. Maine 17
9. New Hampshire 13

Women’s All-Conference Team:
Andrea Holmes, Binghamton*
Chantell Alford, Boston U*
Kirsten Jeter, Stony Brook*
Mo Moran, Boston U
Alex Young, Boston U
Jackie Smith, Hartford
Denise Beliveau, New Hampshire

Further coverage of these will be featured in The Retriever Weekly, Volume 45, Issue 8.

UMBC may not have a reputation for being the sportiest campus around, but not showing the Ravens Monday night game in the Sports Zone of the Commons is just baffling.

When I walked up to the Sports Zone with just a few minutes remaining before kickoff I was expecting to see the 80 inch projector screen showing the pre-game with a handful of Ravens fans sitting at the tables watching.  But to my surprise when I walk up there is no projector screen, no Ravens fans, no game.  Instead there is a gathering of several fraternity members.

So where on campus was this game being shown?  The first floor of Flat Tuesdays, on three 22 inch televisions with barely enough seating to fit 20 people.

Why not just change the name of the Sports Zone to “the lounge”?  It will be far more fitting.  The only thing that remotely relates the Sports Zone to sports is that they have a few lacrosse sticks and basketball jersey’s hanging up on the walls.  Otherwise there are no sports, pretty much ever.

Ravens games, Orioles games, heck even Wizards games should be shown their every night.  If you go in the Sports Zone throughout the day it’s not ESPN being shown on the two flat screen televisions on the walls, it’s CNN.  The only thing that could be considered to be a sport shown on the televisions on a regular basis in the Sports Zone is Monday Night Raw, which is not a sport- it’s a show.

When UMBC plays a televised road game, it’s not shown, no matter what sport.  When the Ravens play, it’s rarely shown.  The one time it was shown last year the game nearly ran past midnight (closing time of the commons) and the staff was threatening to kick students out before the end of the game.

And try finding a person who has the authority to change the channel on the televisions, they don’t exist.  You can ask to watch the Orioles game, but you won’t get it.

With 16 goals and 19 assists senior Kyle Wimer led the Retrievers in points and extended his scoring streak to 31 straight games. Wimer moved into 15th place in UMBC history with 133 career points. He was one of just four unanimous selections for the All-AEC team.

Joining Wimer on the first team were three other seniors. Matt Latham earned his first first-team selection after being a second team pick the last two years. This year he led UMBC with 25 goals, 16 of which came in conference play. He has 86 career goals, and was second in the nation in shooting percentage, scoring 25 times in 47 shots (53.2%).

After struggling as a junior, Maxx Davis reinvented himself as a defensive midfielder and earned first team honors as a short stick midfielder. His 31 ground balls is second on the team but excelled on both sides of the ball with six goals and 7 assists. He scored three, including a game-winning overtime goal, against University of Vermont.

Matt Kresse has been an overshadowed defender for the majority of his career but has been one of the most consistent ones in the conference four four years. He has started 49 of 60 in his career and picked up 12 ground balls and caused six turnovers this year. Against University of Hartford he scored his first career goal off his first career shot.

On the second team was senior long-stick midfielder Mike Camardo, who was second in the nation with 2.91 per game. His totals of 47 ground balls and 35 caused turnovers both led the team. He also scored one goal and two assists as the defensive long-stick midfielders.

Midway through the season freshman Nick Doub was moved into the first midfield unit, replacing Bobby Stockton, who led the team with 12 goals after six games. His polished game and good passing ability kept him on the unit and he scored four goals and two assists as a freshman. Because of his efforts he was named to the AEC All-rookie team.

Finally, while on the field accomplishment are very impressive, Chris Jones earned his third straight selection to the AEC All-Academic team after maintaining a 3.45 GPA as an economics major. His four goals and one assist this year put him over the 50-point plateau for his career.

Wimer leads UMBC with 30 points off 12 goals and a team high 18 assists. He was a pre-season first team All-American by Inside Lacrosse and currently leads the nation with a 29 straight game scoring streak.

Camardo has had another outstanding season with 38 ground balls and 3.2 caused turnovers per game, which ranks second in the nation. Last season he was the AEC Championship Most Outstanding Player and a Second-Team All-AEC selection.

Men’s Ballot

On the women’s side of lacrosse, Erika Braerman and Kate Quick have been nominated for the Women’s Lacrosse Fan’s Choice Player of the Year award.

Braerman leads UMBC with 29 goals and 21 assists for 50 points. She is second in the AEC in points per game and third in assists. She currently ranks fifth all-time for most assists in a season.

Quick, the First-Team All-Conference goalie, leads the stingiest defense in the AEC, which ranks 14th in the nation with just an 8.79 goals-against average. So far this season she has recorded 106 saves, 34 ground balls, and 15 caused turnovers.

Women’s Ballot

Atwell was a preseason third-team All-American despite missing all of the 2009 season with a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament, and said he felt 100 percent on the field in an interview with Alexander Pyles of examiner.com

Atwell played in the team’s first eight games, stayed home for the team’s trip to Binghamton, and officially left the team mid-week after that.

Coach Don Zimmerman declined to comment on Atwell’s decision to leave the team.

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“I love playing at UMBC but it’s just a business decision and I’m looking out for the best opportunity for my career,” Gilliam said.

This season Gilliam led the team with 13.3 points per game while also averaging 3.7 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.3 assists in 29.3 minutes per game and was named to the All-America East Conference third team.

Further coverage of this will be in the April 6 issue of The Retriever Weekly.

The weather was beautiful even though the UMBC baseball team suffered an unfortunate loss to their local rival: The Maryland Terrapins. The Retrievers fought hard until the end of the game when the score was left at 7-5, this past Wednesday evening in College Park, Maryland.

The Retrievers had several players who played well during the game. Sophomore Max Himmelstein led UMBC with three hits, and one of Himmelstein’s hits also batted in a UMBC player.

Following Himmelstein, Junior Bryan Russo hit an RBI to score Himmelstein in. After Russo’s RBI, Sophmore Curtis Schickner hit two balls which led to two more runs for UMBC.

Defensively, Junior Marty Zawacki started for the Retrievers by striking out two Maryland opponents. David Davita also pitched well and struck out two Maryland players as well. Finally, Ed Bach and Sean Swetnam each contributed their own single strikeout.

The Retrievers showed quite an effort despite their loss. UMBC will play again this Friday when they will host Navy at 5 p.m. The two teams will also play again in Annapolis, Maryland, on Saturday and Sunday.

With UMBC being one of the most diverse schools in the country is it any surprise that there is a club cricket team on campus? While the sport may be a bit of an unknown to most, the club team has quietly been one of the most consistent club teams at UMBC since its founding just six years ago. They have one Division I championship and multiple other trips to the finals.

But over spring break the team, known as 22 Yards, was selected to compete in a 20 team All-American College Cricket Tournament and finished in the final four.

The trip did start off a bit rocky however as the team lost by five runs to George Mason University. In the game UMBC was trailing by 21 runs with just six balls left. Beenish Bhatia and Chirag Vani were able to put up 16 runs, but fell short.

But that near comeback sparked a six wicket victory over the defending champion Montgomery College in which the team got a bonus point for getting the entire team out.

Later that day the team set out for a second game, this time against Auburn University. Once again it was a six wicket victory for 22 Yards. The team came out hot as the team’s opening batsman, Eraj Raza Abidi, got 50 off 27 balls.

The next day the team got two much needed bonus points in a two wicket victory over George Washington University. First the team got a bonus point for getting all 10 wickets and later Rikin Parikh got the final bonus point for taking two wickets in the final over.

That 3-1 record after the first three days was enough to get 22 Yards into the semi-final round of the tournament, after the opening round-robin pool.

22 Yards was matched up against York College and played in the only International cricket stadium in the United States of America, Central Broward Regional Park.

Team captain Sumeet Chordiya had 60 runs in the game while Anantha Ranga had 32 runs to make the game close but the team came up just seven runs short of the victory.

While 22 Yards is still only a six year old club, they have certainly brought UMBC to the national stage quickly and will be starting their Washington Metropolitan Cricket Board competition In April.

For more information on 22 Yards you can visit their website or facebook page.