UMBC snapped a three-game losing skid by defeating visiting Mount St. Mary's, 11-8, at UMBC Stadium Tuesday night. Two days earlier, the Retrievers (3-5) got a visit from a group of former players.
Attackman Brendan Mundorf (2003-06), midfielder Alex Hopmann (2006-09), faceoff specialist Taylor Marino (2005-08) and goalkeeper Jeremy Blevins (2006-09) spoke with players on Sunday night – one night after the team had suffered a 12-6 loss to America East rival Stony Brook to fall to 0-2 in the league for the first time in the program's history.
Redshirt senior midfielder Conor Finch said the current players absorbed their predecessors' stories and advice.
"It means a lot," the Boys' Latin graduate said. "They put a lot of hard work into making this program really successful. Hearing from them, we know how much success they had and how much experience they had. Just understanding what they did to be successful and the level they brought every day in practice, it was good for us. I think we needed to hear it coming from guys who had so much success at UMBC. So it meant a lot for us for them to come in and talk to us."
The coaches were not present, but head coach Don Zimmerman appreciated the gesture.
"We want to build on this momentum, and it all comes down to what our guys are doing in practice," he said. "The alums came in and talked to them about the program and maybe gave them a little history lesson. Then afterward, the captains took them out and had a little bit of a practice. Very appreciative of our alums. I didn't call them. They called me and said, 'Hey, can we talk to the team? We're following you guys, and we'd just like to give our insight into some things.' I really appreciate their contribution."
Circling back to "Three Things to Watch" …
1) Ground balls. This statistic appeared to be a wash, as the Mountaineers collected 27 loose balls to the Retrievers' 26. But coach Tom Gravante said Mount St. Mary's could have had a wider edge in this department if senior Nick Haley and his teammates on the wings had scooped up more of the 50-50 ground balls that they had worked hard to produce.
"I think in the first half, with the faceoffs, Nick Haley won a lot of the faceoffs in terms of winning the draw, but he doesn't pick up the ground ball," Gravante said of Haley, who won 5 of 10 faceoffs and picked up one ground ball. "And once it went to an area, their guys did better than our guys on the wings in boxing us out and picking it up. … We've got to pick up that ball. We need guys to play better, and some of these are seniors that need to do that for us."
2) Faceoffs. UMBC barely won this category, finishing 11-for-21. But senior Nathan Klein won 9 of 16 draws and tied with junior attackman Nate Lewnes for a team-high five ground balls. Klein, who has won 46.7 percent of his faceoffs (28 of 60), earned a game ball from Zimmerman for his effort against the Mountaineers.
"He's a guy who came here as a defenseman, a long-stick," Zimmerman said. "We said, 'Nate, your role this year is going to be as a faceoff guy for us.' He's accepted it and worked hard, and he's kind of given the other faceoff guys a leadership role. I just thought he did a heck of a job tonight. This team is getting better, and one of the areas that we see is our faceoffs. And our wings did a terrific job of scrapping and getting some tough ground balls."
3) Turnovers. Mount St. Mary's finished with 15 giveaways, which was one fewer than the Retrievers. But Gravante said several of those turnovers occurred during the team's six extra-man opportunities, which contributed to the man-up offense converting just one of those chances. Committing those mistakes in extra-man situations haunts Gravante.
"We're still working on that," he said. "We're still trying to find the six guys that can at least maintain possession. If we don't score a goal, that's fine. I just want the ball going into six-on-six."