The Retriever Weekly 17 Tuesday, May 1, 2012 Men’s America East Tournament

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By Dan Levin Sports Editor 1. 5-9 (4-1) 2. UMBC Retrievers 5-7 (3-2) The Seawolves earned their third consecutive America East regular season title with Despite falling to the worst team in the conference, the Retrievers will host their a thrilling overtime victory over Albany on Saturday. After winning the conference two Stadium for the second time this year. the upset Stony Brook in last year’s tournament to capture the NCAA semifinal game this Wednesday as the Great Danes from Albany come to UMBC yearsberth. ago and advancing all the way to NCAA Quarterfinal’s where they fell to Virginia, Junior Scott Jones led the Retrievers this season in goals (34) and points (38) and double digit goals lead by red shirt freshman Mike Rooney with his 30 goals. The real finishedhe lead the tenth team in thewith country 25 assists with this 2.82 year. goals per game. He has scored 12 goals in the The Seawolves offensive attack is well spread out with seven different players scoring lastUMBC three will games rely while on their fellow attack attackman in the conferenceJoe Lustgarten tourney paces as the well UMBC their offense excellent as keyThe to Seawolvestheir offensive have successplayed hotlyin the contestedtournament games will allbe throughoutjunior transfer the from year includingOhio State after having lost junior Neil Lewnes to a torn ACL. Senior Rob Grimm and freshman Jeffeight Tundoone goal who games lead inthe which team they in assists are just with 2-6. 25.Stony Brook is by no means untouchable goalkeeperSeth Mackin Adam have steppedCohen. UMBC up into will that also spot have the tolast rely couple on their of games depth and in thehave midfield played in the tourney and if team’s can force them into uncharacteristic mistakes then they pretty well. may be in for an early exit. They only commit a league low 13 turnovers per game and Defensively, with new defensive coach Ed Stephenson at the helm, the Retrievers killed 71 percent of the penalties against them allowing a conference low eight man That can be credited to goalkeeper Sean Brady who stopped 52 percent of shots givefaced up this a league year. Coach low 9.73 Jim goals Nagle per has game. his guys playing extremely well and doing all the downgame withgoals 22 while against facing Albany. 28 attempts. On the face-offs it will be sophomore Phil Poe just 1-1 at home in conference play. whoThe had Retrievers a fantastic have season, been historicallyand tied the good school on theirrecord home for mostturf in face-off conference wins play in a fundamentalTeams will things also have and having to avoid home bad field penalties advantage against will theonly Seawolves help them becausedespite going they including a 20-4 all-time record at home against AEC opponents and 6-3 in conference tournament games. To run the gauntlet, the Retrievers will have to be able to free up their turnover numbers down and continues to limit the scoring chances for opponents Jones for some shots and limit the turnovers so as not to allow to many fast-break scoredthen they on willa ridiculous be on their 49 percentway to an of NCAAtheir man-up Tournament opportunities. berth. If Stony Brooks keeps opportunities for their opponents. 3. Albany Great Danes 4-10 (3-2) 4. Hartford Hawks 6-8 (3-2) The Great Danes come in as the three seed after dropping a heartbreaker to top streak into the tournament all against conference opponents. They lost games to attack and the conference with his 41 goals this season while his 2.83 goals per game bothThe UMBC defending and Albany league but champions, defeated topHartford seeded quietly Stony bringsBrook ina threeNew York game which winning will seededare tied Stony for seventh Brook in in theovertime country. last Saturday. Senior Joe Resetarits leads the offensive Right behind him stands the three Thompson’s who along with Resetarits make up Hartford also beat Stony Brook in the conference championship last year both by for 80 percent of Albany’s scoring this year. Brother’s Miles and Lyle have scored 30 be the same matchup for the semifinals. and 16 goals respectively while cousin Ty added 28 along with 10 assists. more per game then any other America East team and also led the conference in theassists score and of shot 11-10. percentage. The top offense in the league, the Hawks scored over two goals

MaxKeith Huber Olson stands has in done goal much for the of Great the face-offDanes after duty taking for over the for teamJohn this Carroll. year but Kevin the team with 31 goals and added 17 assists. The Hawks also rank at the top of the Harris and have also seen significant time at the face-off X. Freshman leagueStopping in penalty the Hartford killing afteroffense stopping begins 73 with percent stopping of their senior man-up Carter opponents. Bender who led to turn up his last place defense otherwise it could be an early exit for the Great Danes Defensively, the Hawks are solid, led by their goalkeeper Scott Bement who led the in Forthis Albany year’s tournament.to make a run in the tournament, Coach Scott Marr will have to find a way They can score in bunches but have not shown the ability to stop many people which attack because getting into a shooting battle with them may be almost impossible leagueto win. in saves per game with 10.57. To stop Hartford you must stop their offensive possessions of their opponents. Coach Peter Lawrence will have to take his team on the road twice to earn the is why face-offs will be all that much more important because they need to limit the NCAA tournament berth but the Hawks went 1-1 on the road in conference play and half, which allowed them to climb back into the game. Albany fell to UMBC in their 2-5 overall including tough losses to ranked teams like Maryland and Denver. They were able to do that against Stony Brook, winning 8-12 face-offs in the second losing in overtime. positions will limit their chances of opening a huge lead especially early. Stopping meeting this year, allowing five fourth quarter goals in a three minute span before theirWinning momentum face-offs will bewill abe big crucial part ofto the any game Hartford and afteropponent seeing because the two limiting play earlier their in the year, it looks like the makings of a classic in the semi’s when Stony Brook and Hartford meet up.