The UMBC men's lacrosse team hasn't had too many easy games this season, which made Friday night's contest a thoroughly enjoyable experience for the hosts.
The Retrievers erupted for seven goals in the third quarter and six more in the fourth to overpower visiting Lafayette, 18-7, before an announced 712 at UMBC Stadium in Catonsville.
The seven tallies in the third were a season high for UMBC, which improved to 4-5. The 18 goals were also a season best and the most since April 6, 2013 when that squad pummeled America East foe Vermont, 19-6. The margin of victory was the program's largest since that rout of Vermont.
Three Retrievers posted hat tricks. Junior midfielder Pat Young tied a career high with five goals, including three in the fourth quarter. Junior midfielder Jack Gannon scored all four of his goals in that pivotal third quarter. Junior attackman Nate Lewnes (St. Mary's) completed his hat trick in the third.
For an offense that had gone through its first seven contests without scoring 10 goals in a game, UMBC has now scored 11 and 16 in back-to-back contests.
"I think we ran really smoothly," Young said of the offensive fireworks. "We took our open shots. We didn't take the first shots. We moved the ball, we shared the ball, and Jack got hot. So we just kept feeding him. When he gets hot, you've just got to keep feeding him. That took a lot of pressure off of the rest of the offense, and I think we loosened up and just played our game from there."
Gannon said he could not remember the last time he scored four times on four shots in a single quarter.
"But it was cool because it just felt good," said Gannon, who has racked up seven goals and one assist since moving from attack. "I felt hot, and I just kept going. Coach [Don Zimmerman] said, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Just keep doing what you do.' Just kept going, and they kept going in."
The Retrievers held a slim 3-2 lead after Lafayette junior midfielder Robert Orazietti took a skip pass from sophomore attackman Jason Sands and sidearmed a riser from the right point with 5 minutes, 54 seconds left in the second quarter.
But UMBC scored seven unanswered goals spanning the second and third quarters. Gannon scored his first three goals during that spurt.
When Leopards senior midfielder Sonny Round drove down the right alley and bounced a shot in with 7:40 remaining, that ended a drought of 13:14.
The Retrievers responded with three straight goals – including Gannon's fourth and Young's third – to put the game out of reach.
Young's second goal gave him 100 points for his career, making him just the eighth Division I player in school history to reach that mark in his junior year. The last player to accomplish that feat was attackman Drew Westervelt in 2006.
Young also chipped in an assist, and redshirt senior attackman Conor Finch (Boys' Latin) compiled six points on two goals and four assists.
Sophomore goalkeeper Ruston Souder (Chesapeake-AA) improved to 2-1, turning away 17 shots by the Leopards. Freshman Brett Malamphy (Arundel) won 12-of-14 faceoffs and UMBC won 17-of-28, which aided the defense.
"They come down, and they just shoot the first shot because they need a goal," Souder said. "That makes it easier on me and that makes it easier on the rest of the defense."
UMBC coach Don Zimmerman was pleased to see the team play as well as it did with just two days of rest and preparation after Tuesday night's 11-8 win against Mount St. Mary's.
"Playing two games in one week can be challenging," he said. "We asked the guys to build on the momentum that we gained against Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday and come out Friday and be a better ball club. We weren't able to do a lot between the two games. To me, it was all mental, how our guys were going to approach this opponent, and I felt that our guys came ready to play."
Sophomore attackman Eric Joseph paced Lafayette with two goals, and Sands added one goal and one assist. But the Leopards fell to 1-8 and have lost eight straight since a 10-5 victory at Wagner in their season opener on Feb. 13.