Wednesday's entry is the third in a series taking a look at each of the seven Division I programs in Maryland, according to their order of finish from last season. The Sun's men's lacrosse preview is set to be published Feb. 6. This is UMBC's turn.
Overview: For the second consecutive year, the Retrievers made it to the America East tournament final, but missed out on a win and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Both times, the program was denied by Albany, which returns co-Tewaaraton Award winner and NCAA single-season points record holder Lyle Thompson. The Great Danes aren't the only landmine in the conference, as Stony Brook and Binghamton also loom. But UMBC has just as much opportunity as their league rivals to capture what would be the school's first America East tournament crown since 2009.
Reason for optimism: Last year's numbers don't suggest it, but UMBC's defense might be the team's strength in 2015.
Opponents averaged 11.9 goals against the Retrievers, who ranked 60th among 67 Division I programs in goals allowed per game. That's an alarming total, but there are a few seeds for hope.
The defense ranked 16th in the country in saves per game (11.5). And the unit returns three starting close defensemen, two starting short-stick defensive midfielders, and one starting goalkeeper and one starting long-stick midfielder.
Coach Don Zimmerman is banking on that experience helping UMBC fortify that end of the field.
"We always want to play good defense," he said. "If we can play consistent defense, then we're going to be in the ball game. Offenses may run into an opponent or a day where they're a little off, but you can't have an off day defensively. So I would say that our defense is going to be what we rely on to be a consistent lacrosse team."
Reason for pessimism: The Retrievers' offensive success last season had ties to their prowess at the faceoff X.
The team finished ninth in the nation with a 58.2 faceoff winning percentage thanks largely to the play of Phil Poe. He won 59.9 percent of faceoffs, 11th-best in the country, and his 9.3 ground balls per game was the sixth-best average.
Finding a replacement for Poe, who graduated as the school's all-time leader in faceoff wins (676) and Division I leader in career ground balls (351), has become a crowded affair. Sophomore Steven Larson, freshman Brett Malamphy and redshirt senior long-stick midfielder Nathan Klein are just a few of the candidates vying for the role.
One thing Zimmerman wants to make clear is that no player must put up the numbers that Poe did.
"I don't know if you can replace that, but we have to figure out a way to make up for his loss," Zimmerman said. "It's always nice to have a guy back with experience, but in college sports, guys graduate and guys replace them. We have a lot of confidence in the guys that are right now fighting for that position. We understand it's a growth process."
Keep an eye on: UMBC will discover how prepared it is by opening the season with four consecutive games on the road.
The program will play at Johns Hopkins on Feb. 7, Penn on Feb. 14, Monmouth on Feb. 21 and Richmond on Feb. 28. It will be the longest stretch of games away from UMBC Stadium since 2003 when that squad ended the season with four straight road games.
The Feb. 7 tilt with the Blue Jays is the earliest in the series between the two schools and was necessitated by Johns Hopkins' move to the Big Ten. The Retrievers would have played host to Maryland on Feb. 14, but "they dropped us," according to Zimmerman.
"We better be road warriors," he said. "It wasn't designed that way. … If you go back a year, our schedule would have been home against Maryland on the 14th and away on the 21st at Monmouth and the 28th at Richmond and back home for Towson on [March] 7th. So a year ago, we thought we had two games at home and two on the road. Now all of a sudden, we have four straight on the road. … First four games on the road is certainly a challenge, but you've got to rise to the occasion."
What he said: With nine returning starters, the Retrievers boast a significant amount of talent and experience in their roster and won't feel pressed to insert a freshman. Zimmerman said that will allow the newcomers to get acclimated to the collegiate level of play.
"When you have the returning starters that we have, we don't feel like we have to fill starting/playing positions as much as maybe we had in the past," he said. "So that kind of takes the pressure off of throwing a young player into the mix too soon. It's really a good situation. Now at the same time, when we start fall ball, we always give our upperclassmen the first opportunity to go out there and prove themselves and win a playing position. But at the same time, we give our freshmen the same opportunities as well. … I think if we can take some of the pressure off the younger guys – who we see as the future leaders of our team – and let them grow a little bit more, that's going to help us and it's going to help them down the line."