UMBC on a roll; coach credits team meeting

By Edward Lee | sun reporter
March 26, 2008

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The UMBC men's lacrosse team's recent run - three straight victories and four wins in the past five games - can trace its roots to a loss.

Minutes after a humbling 13-4 setback to Rutgers on Feb. 23 that yielded an 0-2 start, the Retrievers held a team meeting. According to coach Don Zimmerman, reserve sophomore defenseman Tim Eagan seized the opportunity, imploring his teammates to play with the kind of energy that the team hadn't shown in losses to Delaware and the Scarlet Knights.

Then senior attackman Conor Devlin reminded his teammates of his freshman year when a promising 2005 squad compiled a 7-8 record and missed the NCAA tournament.

"We learned a lot about ourselves, and guys began going after each other in practice, challenging each other, and setting the tempo for what's been going on these past four weeks," Zimmerman said.

UMBC's spurt began with a 9-6 victory over then-No. 20 Denver on March 1, and after a tighter-than-expected 10-8 loss to then-No. 1 Johns Hopkins, the Retrievers (4-3) strung together wins against Yale, then-No. 5 Maryland in triple overtime and then-No. 17 Ohio State in double overtime.

Hood's Anderson shines
Although Hood is still seeking its first win in its three-year history, coach Eric Dummann said the one bright spot has been the play of senior attackman Jason Anderson.

Anderson has posted 19 goals and six assists for the Blazers (0-10), breaking his single-season school records for goals (18) and points (22). Anderson is a midfielder who has been playing attack for the past five contests.

Navy's Coughlin still in doubt
Navy coach Richie Meade said he probably won't know until later this week whether Matt Coughlin's injured right hamstring will be healed enough to allow the junior goalie to play against No. 7 Georgetown (4-2) on Saturday.

Meade called Coughlin's injury "a slight aggravation of the hamstring" and opted to keep him on the bench in the No. 3 Midshipmen's 8-3 victory over Colgate on Sunday. Junior Tommy Phelan made 13 saves in his first career start for Navy (8-1).

"It was just one of those things where I felt that a healthy Tommy Phelan gave us a better chance to win than a banged-up Matt Coughlin," Meade said.

Et cetera
Sophomore midfielder Brian Carroll (Gilman) has emerged as the third-leading scorer for No. 1 Virginia (9-0). "I have exceeded my expectations somewhat in that I did not expect to be scoring quite so much," said Carroll, who has recorded 19 goals and five assists, far surpassing last year's totals of 11 goals and one assist. ... Upperclassmen accounted for nine goals and three assists in No. 8 Maryland's 13-8 win against then-No. 3 North Carolina on Saturday. "I thought our older players played very well, and they took the pressure off of the younger kids," Terps coach Dave Cottle said. ... Loyola freshman goalkeeper Jake Hagelin was named the ECAC co-Defensive Player of the Week for allowing just six goals in two games last week.

edward.lee@baltsun.com

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Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun

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