The No. 19 Retrievers got their first win of the season, edging Rutgers, 6-5, on Sunday. It was also notable that goalkeeper Adam Cohen earned his first career victory.
The freshman made six saves, including one in the final minute of the game. The Arnold native and Severn graduate impressed coach Don Zimmerman.
"I thought Adam did well," Zimmerman said. "He made some nice saves, and I thought he cleared well – although he gave up one on a bad clearing pass. But that's going to happen. For a freshman to get in there and get a win, I thought that was real important for him and for the team."
Zimmerman has already decided that Cohen will start Saturday when No. 3 North Carolina (4-0) visits UMBC Stadium.
"We're going to come back with Adam Cohen," Zimmerman said. "He started in the goal for us and got the win. I thought he did a good job. As I clarified, we're into a one-goalie system, and right now, Adam Cohen's our starter."
Other notes:
*In just two games, Bobby Stockton has already reached a season high in goals with six and is two shy to matching his total in his career. The junior midfielder has scored three goals in each contest and has become a nice complement to senior Kyle Wimer, who leads the team in points with eight. "Bobby's doing a good job with the ball," Zimmerman said of Stockton, who also has recorded an assist. "He's certainly proved to be a pretty dangerous threat. He still has to work on being a complete middie for us and making good decisions. He goes to the goal, and he's effective at that, but he's also got to understand that if he doesn't have a great opportunity, make the simple play. But we're pleased. He's a kid who's real passionate about the game and wants to do well and works hard, and it's starting to pay off."
*It's early, but the Retrievers may have found their face-off specialist in J.D. Harkey. The junior won 10-of-13 face-offs (.769) against Rutgers and is currently 19-of-36 (.528) for the season. Harkey is thriving as sophomore Justin Radebaugh continues to recover from concussion-related symptoms. "J.D.'s coming off of an ACL [that he tore on March 3], and he's a hard-working kid," Zimmerman said. "He certainly worked hard during the offseason to get that knee back and ready to go. I think that's kind of carried over into his approach for facing off for us. With Justin Radebaugh out, J.D. had an opportunity to step up and be our guy, and he's really done a great job. Yesterday, he just really came through. He won 10-of-13 and won the first six, and that just allowed us to get off to a good start. I'm just real pleased with his effort and his performance."
*Sunday's contest was actually postponed a day as Rutgers was pelted by a snowstorm on Friday, making travel conditions on Friday for UMBC difficult. But the delay didn't bother the Retrievers, Zimmerman said. "It's all part of it," he said. "You've got to be able to adapt and adjust. We were set to go up on Friday and play Saturday, but we got the call that the storm was coming in and the Rutgers people felt it would have been better to delay the game by a day. We just had to adjust a little bit."