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.

With the loss UMBC has fallen to 1-4, their worst start since 2005 when they started with the same record, and may have lost any chance of an at large big for the N.C.A.A. tournament.

Princeton was able to scored three goals in the first nine minutes of the game and UMBC was unable to recover. Chris McBride, Paul Barnes, and Scott MacKenzie each got a ball past sophomore Brian McCullough, who was making his second career start.

Sophomore Shane Ryzner was able to get UMBC on the board when he put in a pass from Maxx Davis with 5:29 remaining in the first quarter, but Princeton had two more goals added to their score but Jack McBride and Rob Engelke.

With the 5-1 deficit after the first quarter Coach Don Zimmerman decided to once again make a change in goal, replacing McCullough with senior Kevin Kohri, who started the season but was replaced at halftime by highly touted freshman Adam Cohen. McCullough recorded just one save against the Tigers.

Kohri did not fair much better though. He allowed two quick goals by Tony Moni and Engelke before UMBC could put together back-to-back goals for the first time in the game.

Sophomore attack Rob Grimm capitalized on a man-up situation one minute prior to long stick midfielder Mike Camardo scoring his first goal of the season.

Jack McBride was able to put one more goal away before the half with just five seconds remaining, sending UMBC into the break down 8-3.

The weather took it’s tole on both teams in the second half as only four goals were scored. MacKenzie scored his second goal of the game with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter to open the scoring in the second half prior to UMBC attack Matt Latham scoring his seventh goal of year off a pass from Kyle Wimer, who extended his consecutive game with a point streak to 24.

Mike Chanenchuk put one final goal on the board for Princeton with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter to put UMBC down six with 15 minutes left in regulation.

UMBC was able to hold Princeton scoreless in the fourth quarter but only Wimer was able to net a goal as the team lost 10-5.

The Retrievers will have a week off before their next game, but they will once again have their hands fill playing their fourth straight nationally ranked team, #5 Maryland at 12:00 at UMBC Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPNU and WMAR.

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.