UMBC Sports Blog

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Even thought I was sitting at the press table watching the game and taking notes on Tuesday I couldn’t help but notice the student section two feet away from me during the game. For the entire first half the crowd was silent and sitting. The real student section was in the upper level of the arena. They were standing. They were yelling. They were being real fans.

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As you all know this is a sport blog. I cover UMBC sports, and occasionally have a little bit of fun and branch out, but still stick with sports. But a good friend of the website who is a key part of operation upgrade has asked for some help and I’m going to help out.

He is currently in a contest in which he’s worked very hard to win. He had to parody the classic I’m on a boat video and it’s a great video. The more views the video gets the more likely it is that he wins…so click the link…watch the video…and spread the word. This is hilarious.

As everybody should know this week is homecoming for UMBC and even though we don’t have a football team to anchor it there is no reason not the be excited- in fact we have the highest scoring soccer team in the nation to root for.

I want to settle something first.  There really isn’t much need for a football team at UMBC.  Everybody in the athletic department will admit that they want a football team but there is such a ceiling in football, only five teams a year actually have a chance to compete for the national championship, so why wait our time on a football team that would more than likely be Division-III for a while and never have a chance to win a championship.

Also, if UMBC gets a football team they would have to cut every single men’s sport other than basketball to make room for it with Title IX.  Thus only giving UMBC two men’s sports, neither of which have a chance to win a national championship, and getting rid of the two teams that do have a change: Men’s soccer and Men’s Lacrosse.

Anyway back to the point.  Here is the Homecoming schedule (Sports only):

Thursday, Oct. 15-
Women’s Soccer vs. Albany- 3:30 pm

Friday, Oct. 16-
Ice Hockey vs. Rowan- 6:30 pm
Midnight Madness- 10:30 pm

Saturday, Oct. 17-
5k Dawg Chase- 9:00 am
Wrestling Club Team Squareoff- 10:00 am
Men’s Volleyball Club team vs. Alumni- 11:00 am
Alumni Tailgate Lunch- 11:30 am
Free Gym- 12:00 pm
Alumni Baseball Game- 12:30 pm
Men’s Soccer vs. Longwood- 1:00 pm
Alumni Softball Game- 2:30 pm
Men’s Rugby vs. Towson- 3:30 pm

Ok granted it was a MEAC school, outside of men’s basketball the MEAC is not a good sports conference, and even then that’s not saying much. But the fact that the women’s soccer team finally had a good game, and dominating one at that, is always good to see. Mo Van Vlerah had an easy day and while she gave up one goal she only made one saves, meaning the defense stepped it up big time to shut down and opposing offense.

While Rachel McKee shot the life out of the ball with six shots and five on goal, she did not get one into the net, but four other retrievers did.

After being down 1-0 at half time, in the 54th minute junior midfielder Elyse Bilardo (first of career) blasted a shot from 25 yards out into the top left of the goal. Just a minute later Aly Garzek (first of career) receiver a cross from Danielle Kell and got another goal for the Retrievers from six yards out.

Elyse Bilardo kicked off the four goal effort with the first goal of her career

With the game winding down UMBC added some insurance goals when Megan McDonald (first of career) knocked a ball off the keeper from 35 yards right of the center for the goal in the 79th minute, and finally in the 88th minute Kell got her goal off a rebound right in front of the goal.

Lets hope that lack of scoring in all of the previous meaningless games (except Maine) stays behind and this final non-conference game gives the girls confidence that they can score…lets hope.

If anybody has wondered why no cross country results have been posted on the blog it is because UMES has still not posted any results on their website for any other teams. Until their athletics site is updated I cannot post any results but as soon as they are I will update you.

The sign of a good team is one that wins when they are not at their best. To say UMBC was at their best today would be a false statement. The majority of the team was suffering from the flu and it showed on the field. Towson won the possession battle but UMBC showed why they are undefeated. The Tigers are a very good CAA team. Any time you can go into Lehigh and come out with a 2-0 win it means you are a good team. But UMBC showed they were the better team. Every single one of them left it all on the field and even though the offense was not their like it has been in the past it was the defense that came up big and won the game for UMBC.

While Andrew Bulls extended his scoring streak to six games with a converted free kick in the 39th minute, that was all UMBc managed to net. Everybody knew that the offense was going to slow down. Consistently scoring three goals a game at the college level is incredibly hard to do, for UMBC to score 19 goals in five games was simply unbelievable. With the offense scoring so much it did not make the defensive situation look bad, but it was not great in the first five games. But this time they were. Liam Paddock was nearly pulled from the starting lineup because of his sickness but he got the start and played every minute of the game and did not miss a beat. Chris Williams and Vince Savarese were their usual selves and Jason McCarron is showing improvement every time he steps onto the field.  They held Towson to just five shots on goal and all of them were saved by freshman goal keeper Phil Saunders.

Chris Williams led the defense in a dominating performance against Towson

For the defense to step up the way they did against a good Towson team under the situations they were in showed they can get the job done and it showed UMBC really is a legitimate team and well deserving of that perfect 6-0 record.

After what the athletic program did last year there is no doubt that this year was a little disappointing. Only two conference championships and those were by the men’s swimming and diving team and the men’s lacrosse team, which were just about shoe ins for the titles. A lot of teams had high expectations for this season. The volleyball team, men’s soccer team, men’s basketball team, softball…the list goes on and on but none could capture a crown for UMBC. But this does not mean the year was a total bust. When looking at the silver lining of the season if was pretty good.

First congratulations for the men’s lacrosse team and swimming and diving team for winning again. For the swimming and diving that makes 12 straight league titles. Talk about a dynasty, that’s just unreal. Justin Bronson was phenomenal and surpassed all expectations for this season. He was expected to be a force but he just made it all look easy. He barely missed making the Canadian Olympic team over the summer but I’d like to bet that he’ll make it the next time around. But he’ll be gone next year and sorely missed but the team has plenty more talent, including super sophomore Brad Reitz who showed why he was named freshman of the year last year with an amazing season this year.

The men’s lacrosse team went through some ups and downs but once again failed to disappoint. Jeremy Blevins showed why he was the winningest active goalie in the country with a POY award but there was a lot more on the team than him. Ohio State transfer Peet Poillon just dominated and Alex Hopmann, what can I say about him. He is the all-time goal scorer at UMBC for a reason, and talk about clutch. He’s never scored less than two goals in a championship game. The lacrosse team is going to lose a lot of talent, but any time Don Zimmerman is coaching a team you know they will be in contention to a national championship.

In all honesty the best story was the men’s basketball team. Last year they made it to their first NCAA tournament. While they did miss it this year they just showed heart. Darryl Proctor and Jay Greene very well may be the two best players in UMBC basketball history and will be forever missed. The team did have a losing record this year and finished sixth in the conference, but it was still a great year. The team was riddled with injuries, three guys quit to limit the bench, but through it all when the games counted they got it done, sending them to their second straight conference championship game, coming up just short of the NCAA tournament. With Proctor and Greene gone there are serious voids, but Chauncey Gilliam shined light on the future. He has all the making of a POY in the conference and will be the go to guy on the team next year. He can dunk, he’s quick, he had good ball control, and his three point shot really came around last season. He has to work on his defense, but at this level nobody is perfect, plus he was just a freshman. Don’t think because Proctor and Greene are gone the team is going to be bad next year. Chris De La Rosa could have started at Siena if it wasn’t for Kenny Hasbrook. But he transferred to UMBC and should be fine at the point. Then there is Robbie Jackson, the AEC has never scene a guy 7’2″ 300+ that is any good. With size next to Fry’s defensive ability is going to be hard to score on next year.

Volleyball made great strides this year. A lot of people expected a championship but they did have some youth. But that youth was great, just not in the tournament. Alyssa Lang and Allie Spaay are the future and owned the rookie of the week awards, but most everybody is back next year and they could be in contention once again.

Women’s basketball very well may win the conference next year. Inexperience hurt them on the road but everybody return next year. Michelle Kurowski, Erin Brown, Katie Brooks, and Tope Obajolu are going to be great and with Michele Brokans, Carlee Cassidy, Megan Colabella, and Melissa Book all returning the experience, look out. The year worked wonders for everybody and while they struggled down the stretch, they showed a promising future.

Softball is another team that will return just about everybody. Stephanie Weigman had a monster season. Twenty wins for anybody is just insane, and she’s only a sophomore and owns the all-time strikeout record. They really made great strides this year and will once again be in contention next year. Look out.

Women’s lacrosse s another team that is going to be in contention next year. They were just one game away from making the conference tournament after a great season. They lose a lot but the younger players played well above a freshman level.

Men’s soccer was the most disappointing team this year. They were legitimate title contenders in the beginning of the year but finished in last place. It’s hard to tell is they will contend next year but the reason for the loosing was inexperience and injuries. No matter how good those seniors were it’s hard to win with that much inexperience. They will bring in a great freshman class that looks to be better than the guys on the team already, but once again, youth hurts.

I know I’m not going over all the teams but I will mention baseball. Much like soccer, inexperience killed them, but the future looks bright. Max Himmelstein, Jusitn Lamborn, Rich Conlon, Austin Drewyer, and David Divita will all be great players in the conference in two years, the only thing is they have to get their and get the rest of the team to be good or average.

Between Mothers Day, preparing for finals, and finishing up school projects the blog got put off but everything is being updated now

North Carolina (11-5):
A- Bart Wagner (38 goals, 22 assists, 52 ground balls)
A- Billy Bitter (33 goals, 12 assists, 32 ground balls)
A- Gavin Petracca (24 goals, 15 assists, 27 ground balls)
M- Ben Hunt (17 goals, 12 assists, 25 ground balls)
M- Sean Delaney (32 goals, 7 assists, 21 ground balls)
M- Jimmy Dunster (10 goals, 6 assists, 16 ground balls)
D- Ryan Flanagan (56 ground balls, 31 caused turnovers)
D- Jack Ryan (15 ground balls, 6 caused turnovers)
D- Charlie McComas (40 ground balls, 16 caused turnovers)
G- James Petracca (61 saves, 53.0%)
F- Shane Walterhoefer (232-of-370, 62.7%, 126 ground balls)

Key Reserves
A- Thomas Wood- 2 goals, 6 assists, 12 ground balls
M- Sean Burke- 7 goals, 17 assists, 18 ground balls
M- Jimmy Dunster- 10 goals, 6 assists, 16 ground balls
M- Bobby McAuley- 5 goals 8 assists, 12 ground balls
M- Cryder DiPietro- 9 goals, 1 assists, 9 ground balls
M- Chris Hunt- 49 ground balls, 11 caused turnovers
M- Michael Burns- 38 ground balls, 13 caused turnovers
M- Tyler Morton- 26 ground balls, 3 caused turnovers
D- 31 ground balls, 11 caused turnovers
D- Michael Jarvis- 17 ground balls, 21 caused turnovers

Goals For———- 199
Goals Against—– 138
Differential/game- 3.8

Joe Breschi- 103-68 12 seasons, 4 NCAA tournament appearances

Ranked Victories
1-5: John Hopkins (10-9 OT)
6-10: Hofstra (13-8)
11-20: Colgate (11-9), Navy (9-8), Maryland (16-10) (ACC tournament)

UMBC (12-3):
A- Ryan Smith (21 goals, 8 assists, 18 ground balls)
A- Chris Jones (18 goals, 10 assists, 26 ground balls)
A- Matt Latham (25 goals, 5 assists, 30 ground balls)
M- Kyle Wimer (21 goals, 17 assists, 38 ground balls)
M- Peet Poillon (25 goals, 20 assists, 18 ground balls)
M- Alex Hopmann (33 goals, 7 assists, 24 ground balls)
D- Steve Settembrino (15 ground balls, 7 caused turnovers)
D- Matt Kresse (12 ground balls, 6 caused turnovers)
D- Kevin Goedeke (11 ground balls, 4 caused turnovers)
G- Jeremy Blevins (139 saves, 55.6%)
F- Justin Radebaugh (110-of-225, 48.8%, 55 ground balls)

Key Reserves:

A- Rob Grimm (10 goals, 16 assists, 18 ground balls)
A- Bobby Stockton (4 goals, 2 assists, 3 ground balls)
A- Eric Gurnsey (4 goals, 0 assists, 3 ground balls)
M- Jamie Kimbles (5 goals, 3 assists, 16 ground balls)
M- Maxx Davis (1 goal, 1 assists, 4 ground balls)
SSM- Jordan Pierce (3 goals, 3 assists, 16 ground balls)
SSM- Mike Bryan (19 ground balls, 5 caused turnovers)
LSM- Mike Camardo (52 ground balls, 30 caused turnovers)

Goals For———- 180
Goals against—— 116
Differential/game- 4.2

Don Zimmerman- 198-113, 23 seasons, 13 NCAA appearances, 3 national championships

Ranked Victories
1-5: None
6-10: None
11-20: Colgate (13-9), Maryland (9-7)

Attacks

North Carolina has made their living off their attacks. The starters have scored 95 times this season (5.9 goals per game). Bart Wagner (38 goals, 22 assists) and Billy Bitter (33 goals, 12 assists) are two of the best attacks in the country and Gavin Petracca (24 goals, 15 assists) is nothing to shrug off either.

UMBC’s attacks did not meet the standard they left last season but with Ryan Smith (21 goals, 8 assists) back in full swing after coming back from an ACL tear last season the attacks have been great down the stretch. Matt Latham (25 goals, 5 assists) and Chris Jones (18 goals, 10 assists) have the ability to score as both have recorded hat tricks at least once this season.

Advantage- North Carolina

Midfield

Sean Delaney (32 goals, 7 assists) leads a solid midfield for the Tar Heels as Ben Hunt (17 goals, 12 assists) and Jimmy Dunster (10 goals, 6 assists) are great fifth and sixth options for the North Carolina offense. The Tar Heel midfield though has more than often been used to set up the attacks rather than carry the team.

UMBC is home to the most productive midfield in the country. The “50-midfield” has dominated opponents with each guy being able to step up and lead the team in scoring. Alex Hopmann (33 goals, 7 assists) leads the team in goals but Kyle Wimer (21 goals, 17 assists) and Peet Poillon (25 goals, 20 assists) were the two first team all-conference honorees.

Advantage- UMBC

Defense

Ryan Flanagan (56 ground balls, 31 caused turnovers) and Charlie McComas (40 ground balls, 16 caused turnovers) do not let opposing attacks by often and have a knack for being in the right place at the right time getting the ball back to their offense. After an injury to their four year starting goal keeper Grant Zimmerman, James Petracca (61 saves, 53.0%) has been good but is just one game over .500 this season.

Kevin Goedeke (11 ground balls, 4 caused turnovers) and Matt Kresse (12 ground balls, 6 caused turnovers) have battled and won their starting jobs from last season back but those two and Steve Settembrino (15 ground balls, 7 caused turnovers) have to do a better job getting possession back to their offense. Their saving grace is Jeremy Blevins. He’s the winningest goalie in college lacrosse and has racked up 133 saves (55.6%) this season and has just made great save after great save to get the team back into each game they play.

Advantage- UMBC

Bench

North Carolina is a very deep team. They have the ability to call on eight guys that are just as good as their starters. Jimmy Dunster (10 goals, 6 assists) has been a great offensive option and Chris Hunt (49 ground balls, 11 caused turnovers) has just been a great defensive midfielder when called upon.

Mike Camardo (52 ground balls, 30 caused turnovers) may get looked past a lot because as a long stick midfielder he does not score many goals, but this year he’s done it all. He’s played tremendous defense, scrapped on the wing, and has even scored three times this year. Rob Grimm (10 goals, 16 assists) has been the best offensive threat off the bench but other than him nobody has stepped it up off the bench and made an impact scoring.

Advantage- North Carolina

Face-Off

Shane Walterhoefer (232-of-370, 62.7%, 126 ground balls) is one of the top face-off men in the country and gets North Carolina a lot of possessions.

Everybody knows there UMBC stands at facing off. They are near the bottom of the nation in face-off percentage but Justin Radebaugh (110-of-225, 48.8%, 55 ground balls) has improved a lot lately, largely impart of solid wing play by Camardo, Jordan Pierce (16 ground balls) and Mike Bryan (19 ground balls).

Advantage- North Carolina

Coaching

There are a few story lines involved with the coaches. First, North Carolina coach Joe Breschi was formerly the coach at Ohio State for 11 seasons where he made it to three NCAA tournaments. He used to coach Poillon and with his departure Poillon decided to leave and come to UMBC.

Don Zimmerman is without a doubt one of the best coaches in the country. In the off-season North Carolina really tried to get the former Tar Heel assistant to come back and coach but he choose to stay put. He has gone 198-113 in his 23 season coaching career including 13 NCAA tournament appearances with three national titles.

Advantage- UMBC

Overall

When UMBC is on they can beat any team in the country, but lately they haven’t been playing their best lacrosse. If UMBC can build off the momentum of three straight wins and the midfield gets back to being the “50-midfield” then they can be a national championship dark horse, but North Carolina has been tested and has beaten some great teams this year to get to their 11-5 record.