Johns Hopkins has swept this series, winning all 12 meetings. The Blue Jays' average margin of victory is six goals.
The Retrievers, who have dropped five of their past seven season openers, return nine of 10 starters. One of those returners is redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Connor Gordon, who recorded at least 10 saves in 12 games last spring. He finished with 167 stops, passing Bob Bailey's 160 saves in 1989 for the most by a freshman in the program's Division I lacrosse history.
The Blue Jays, who are 12-2 in season openers under coach Dave Pietramala, are ranked sixth in the Cascade/Maverik media preseason poll. The team welcomed back seven starters, including a pair of midfielders in juniors Holden Cattoni (29 goals and six assists) and Connor Reed (9, 15). Sophomore John Crawley (12, 6) could round out the first line.
Here are a few factors that could play a role in the outcome at Homewood Field on Saturday at 1 p.m:
1) "D" up the "O." UMBC graduated attackman Matt Gregoire, who set a program single-season record with 48 goals in 2014. That might seem like a big loss, but the offense returned five of its next six top scorers, and redshirt senior midfielder Conor Finch, who produced five points and 10 assists in 2013 before sitting out last year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, is expected to join juniors Pat Young (33, 10) and Jack Gannon (18, 23) on the first line.
"It's a formidable group, and they don't normally play a lot of people, which puts a lot of pressure on you because their best six guys are out there quite a bit," Pietramala said. "So we'll have to be on point to play them. I would expect that they'll have lengthy possessions and try to shorten the game and force us to be on point for more than 30, 40 seconds. We're going to have to defend some possessions because they are a patient group."
2) Beware of the 4's. Johns Hopkins is the only team in Division I to welcome back a player who scored at least 40 goals last season and another who registered at least 40 assists. Junior attackman Ryan Brown, who wears No. 4, compiled 40 goals and 14 assists, while senior attackman Wells Stanwick, who wears No. 42, posted 23 goals and 44 assists. In two meetings with the Retrievers, Stanwick has accumulated five goals and seven assists, and Brown has recorded five goals and one assist.
"We have to be alert, we have to anticipate things, and just communicate," UMBC coach Don Zimmerman said. "We just have to be fundamentally sound and then execute."
3) Who's on for faceoffs? The Blue Jays have a known commodity in senior faceoff specialist Drew Kennedy, who ranked 14th in the nation with a .590 winning percentage and ninth with 132 ground balls. The same can't be said for the Retrievers, who graduated Phil Poe (11th with a .599 faceoff winning percentage and seventh with 140 ground balls). Sophomore Steve Larson is expected to take the opening draw, but redshirt senior Nathan Klein and freshman Brett Malamphy could also get some playing time, which ramps up the unknown factor for Johns Hopkins.
"One of the things that's challenging is the uncertainty of not having a great familiarity with the people you might see there," Pietramala said. "Last year, we knew exactly what we were going to see from Poe. You had an opportunity to scout him because you had film on him. In this instance, you've got very limited film and opportunities to study those guys. So it is an important part of this game, and it's going to be important for us that we are able to adjust quickly to whatever it is they're doing."