Men's Lacrosse: Towson looks lost against UMBC
Stagnant offense, strong Retriever goaltending, early mistakes doom TU
Pete Lorenz
Sports | 4/2/08
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"We really gave them the three goals that they beat us by," head coach Tony Seaman said. "They didn't earn them. They didn't work for them. We just gave them. We didn't match up on the inbound. We threw a clear right in their stick. You're not going to win many games like that."
Senior midfielder Terry Kimener scored three goals and added an assist for the Retrievers (6-3), and Ryan Smith had a goal and two assists against Towson (2-6), who have yet to score first in any contest this season.
UMBC goaltender Jeremy Blevins outdid Sadtler's performance, recording 16 saves and making key stops to prevent any run the Tigers tried to make in the second half. No Towson player scored more than one goal Tuesday evening.
"The first half was a little rough," Blevins said. "During the second half, I came out and knew I had to make some big saves in order for us to get ahead, so I just buckled down and made some saves."
Seaman said that while Blevins' play was strong, Sadtler's was just as strong or even stronger.
"I thought both goalies were spectacular," Seaman said. "They made a couple saves, both of them. They were just phenomenal."
In the first quarter, UMBC took the lead at 5:06 when the ball trickled past a disoriented Sadtler along the ground after a scrap in front of the goal. Timmy Andre knotted the game at one when he beat his defender to the net and put it top shelf past Blevins. However, an errant Fred Lee pass was intercepted by Kimener, who streaked toward a helpless Sadtler and scored with 1:27 left in the first period.
"They move the ball real well. They're a very disciplined team, a very well-coached team. They just put the ball in the back of the net," Sadtler said.
After sophomore Eric Boyle scored early in the second quarter, senior Brian Vetter grabbed a pass from behind the net and rifled a shot from 12 yards out and found the back of the UMBC net.
Vetter's fourth goal of the season put Towson up by one with 10:28 remaining in the first half. The Tigers would not score again until the fourth quarter.
Before halftime, Kimener and Smith scored to make the score 4-3 in favor of the Retrievers, and Towson once again went into halftime trailing by a small amount.
Kimener and Kyle Wimer each scored within the first two minutes of the third quarter. With 5:52 left in the quarter, Wimer found Matt Latham, who scored the eventual game-winner on his 10th goal of the season. Dom Scalzo scored with 10:49 left in the game to make it 8-3.
After more than a half hour of offensive frustration, Matt Hanzsche scored an unassisted goal with 9:17 left on the clock. During the 31:11 in which the Tigers were scoreless, the Retrievers scored six goals.
Scalzo made it 9-4 with 5:46 left, but junior Randall Cooper took a pass from senior Jonathan Engelke with 2:25 remaining, who recorded a point for his 26th straight game. Twenty-three seconds later, Engelke made it his eighth straight game with a goal to make it a three-goal game, but the Retrievers clamped down for the final two minutes and held the score at 9-6 until the final whistle.
With the solid performance, it appears that Sadtler will continue to start as the conference schedule continues.
"I'm definitely feeling a lot more comfortable and feeling good about how I'm playing," Sadtler said.
The Tigers return to the field at Unitas Stadium Saturday at noon when they take on the Blue Hens of Delaware in their third Colonial Athletic Association game of the season. Towson is 1-1 in the CAA.
"That's it," Sadtler said. "I can't wait. They're a pretty good team. They just lost to Brow, so they're going to be fired up, and so should we. We have to win that game."
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