A year ago, UMBC ranked No. 18 in Division I in man-up offense, converting 41.0 percent of its chances. In their first game of this season, the Retrievers had a far tougher time.
In Saturday's 16-4 loss at No. 6 Johns Hopkins, the man-up offense whiffed on four chances, including going 0-of-3 in the second quarter. The unit's struggles haven't caused too much panic, but coach Don Zimmerman acknowledged that it is worrisome.
"You hate to be shut out on man-up," he said Thursday. "I think we had some opportunities. I think we had a great look on our first man-up, but the shot placement wasn't very good. We've got a couple new members on the man-up team, and I just think that we started to press a little bit. You've got to give Hopkins credit for playing good man-down defense. So we're working on it. We may make some personnel changes and change a few things up. But it's a long season, and we fully expect to improve each and every time out."
One possible reason for the downturn is the graduation of attackman Matt Gregoire, but only two of his 48 goals last spring came with a man advantage. Then again, Gregoire's presence on the inside might have drawn attention from opposing defenses, allowing his teammates to get higher-percentage opportunities.
"He's now replaced by [attackman] Drew Borsody, who's a junior but hasn't had much playing time," Zimmerman said. "So I think in any situation, when you lose an All-American and someone who had the year that Matt had, it's going to take some time to reload. But I think a lot of our issues on man-up against Hopkins was maybe forcing a feed or not putting good placement on a shot. It's a new unit, and we have to continue to work and get better."
The Retrievers will try to revive their man-up offense at No. 13 Penn on Saturday. The Quakers ranked sixth in the nation in man-down defense last season, allowing opponents to score just 13 goals in 50 chances, but have since graduated four starters — two defensemen, one long-stick midfielder and one goalkeeper.
"We'll see on Saturday," Zimmerman said. "Both teams have new guys. We don't have the advantage of seeing any film on them. So we're kind of going in blind. When that's the case, you work on your stuff. We've worked with our man-up unit, and we think we're better today than we were last Saturday. I'm sure the Penn coaches are working with their man-down team. That's why you play the game."