BALTIMORE, Md. – Senior midfielder Peter Mezzanotte was hoping to celebrate his 22nd birthday on Wednesday night by helping the Tigers get a win over local rival UMBC. However, the Retrievers had other ideas and spoiled any celebration plans by handing the Tigers a 10-9 loss in the 42nd all-time meeting between the teams.
Junior attackman Rob Grimm recorded his second “hat trick” of the season by scoring three goals with two assists as UMBC (3-5) earned its second win in the last three games. Led by Grimm, the Retrievers jumped out to a 6-3 half-time lead and held off a late rally by the Tigers to earn their fourth win in the last five meetings against Towson.
“Congratulations to UMBC,” Towson Coach Tony Seaman said. “All of our guys played with an incredible desire for the last two minutes, but we needed to play like that for all 60 minutes.”
The Retrievers jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead with 9:04 remaining in the first quarter after scoring three times in a four-minute span. With 1:09 left in the first quarter, senior attackman Tim Stratton scored off a feed from sophomore attackman Matt Hughes to narrow the Tigers' margin to 3-1.
Sophomore midfielder Neill Lewnes regained the Retrievers' three-goal lead with three seconds remaining in the first quarter when he scored his fifth goal of the year off an assist from Grimm.
After freshman midfielder Thomas DeNapoli scored an unassisted goal with 8:51 left in the first half, the Retrievers answered with back-to-back goals from Grimm and senior midfielder J.D. Harkey to take a three-goal lead into the intermission.
Trailing by 6-3 to start the second half, the Tigers put together a three-goal run to tie the game at 6-6 with 7:44 left in the third quarter. After Hughes scored off a feed from Mezzanotte to narrow the margin to 6-4, Mezzanotte followed with his second goal of the season by scoring from 60 yards out after a UMBC turnover.
Freshman midfielder Andrew Hodgson tied the game at 6-6 by scoring off an assist from Mezzanotte with 7:44 remaining in the third quarter.
But, the Retrievers answered the run by putting together a pair of goals from senior midfielder Jamie Kimbles and freshman midfielder Ryan Johnston to take an 8-6 edge with 2:27 left in the period.
Stratton scored his second goal of the game with 1:29 remaining in the third quarter off an assist from junior attackman Sean Maguire to close the margin to 8-7. However, the Retrievers used back-to-back goals from Johnston and Grimm in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter for a 10-7 cushion.
Trailing by three goals for the fourth time, the Tigers rallied in the final 62 seconds to close the gap to 10-9. With 1:02 remaining in regulation, Maguire converted a feed from Hughes for his second goal of the game. Then, senior midfielder Pat Britton cut the deficit to 10-9 when he scored his 10th goal of the year after getting a pass from Hodgson.
After the Tigers called timeout, sophomore midfielder Matt Thomas won the ensuing face-off to give the Tigers one last chance to tie the game. However, they failed to convert on four attempts in the 13 seconds and the Retrievers held on for the victory.
While Grimm led the Retrievers with his five-point effort, Kimbles and Johnston each added two goals. Junior goalkeeper Brian McCullough made 11 saves, including eight in the second half, as the Retrievers were outshot by a 31-22 margin.
Maguire and Stratton each scored two goals with an assist for the Tigers while Mezzanotte contributed a goal with two assists. After replacing senior goalkeeper Travis Love in the first quarter, sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Wascavage made a career-high four saves in the loss for the Tigers.
The Tigers, who have dropped five of their last six games, will resume their Colonial Athletic Association schedule on Saturday afternoon when they host 16th-ranked Massachusetts at 1 p.m. Meanwhile, the Retrievers will welcome Binghamton to UMBC Stadium on Saturday for an America East Conference game against the Bearcats.
Post-Game Notes:
• Towson now leads the all-time series by a 27-15 margin … However, the Tigers have lost four of the last five meetings after Wednesday's setback … The Retrievers have also won the last three games played at UMBC Stadium.
• The Tigers played their fourth one-goal game, including their third one-goal affair in the last four games … The Tigers have a 1-3 record in one-goal games this year.
• Mezzanotte posted a career-high three-point effort against UMBC on Wednesday night … It marked the third multi-point game of his college career.
• With two goals and an assist against the Retrievers on Wednesday, Stratton now has 13 multi-goal games and 31 multi-point games in his career.
• After scoring two goals with an assist on Wednesday night, Maguire has five career multi-goal games and six multi-point outings.
• Grimm posted the fourth five-point game of his career … Two of those games have come against Towson … In 2008, he scored two goals with three assists as the Retrievers edged Towson by a 9-6 margin.
