The Blue Jays have owned this series, winning all six meetings, but the Retrievers are eager to break the trend. To do so, here are some things that I will keep an eye on tonight:

1) If the No. 4 Retrievers look awfully familiar to the Blue Jays, take a closer look at the midfield. UMBC (3-0) is powered by a first midfield line of seniors Peet Poillon and Alex Hopmann (Annapolis) and junior Kyle Wimer -- all three of whom rank 1-2-3 on the team in points. It's a formula that Johns Hopkins employed in the past: Adam Doneger, Kyle Harrison and Kevin Boland in 2003, Harrison, Boland and Matt Rewkowski in 2004, Harrison and Paul Rabil in 2005, and Paul Rabil and Stephen Peyser in 2007 and 2008. If the Blue Jays plan to shadow those three midfielders with long-pole defensemen, that leaves either senior attackman Ryan Smith (Fallston) or junior attackman Matt Latham (Liberty) facing off against a short-stick defensive midfielder.

2) Johns Hopkins has been a program that has long been celebrated for its tough defenses. The question for the No. 8 Blue Jays (1-1) is: Which defense shows up tonight? The one that shut out Siena over the final 45 minutes, 50 seconds in a season-opening win? Or the unit that surrendered nine of the game's first 10 goals in Saturday's loss to Princeton? Senior Michael Evans struggled with Tigers sophomore attackman Jack McBride, and juniors Matt Drenan and Sam DeVore and senior long-stick midfielder Charlie Wiggins drew unnecessary penalties. That unit has to play better to give junior goalkeeper Michael Gvozden a chance against a Retrievers offense that averages 14.7 goals per game.

3) UMBC's defense seems to have filled the void left when top close defenseman Bobby Atwell (Southern) was lost for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in January. Senior Steve Settembrino and juniors Matt Kresse and Brian Schneider have bent, but not broken against opponents like Delaware's Curtis Dickson and Colgate's Brandon Corp. They'll have to do much of the same against a Johns Hopkins offense that has gotten goals from seven different players.