Today’s edition of The Baltimore Sun features a profile of UMBC senior midfielder Peet Poillon’s development from scorer to distributor. One thread that didn’t make the article was Poillon’s transfer from Ohio State last July.

Poillon, 21, declined to name the schools he was interested in, but one of the reasons he chose the Retrievers was because of  his familiarity with the greater Baltimore metropolitan area when he was a two-time NJCAA All-American at Howard Community College. Poillon also said that one of his post-career goals is coaching.

"I felt like Coach [Don] Zimmerman was the perfect guy to learn from," Poillon said. "He’s been around the sport for 25 to 30 years, and that’s more than three times as many years I’ve been playing."

Poillon acknowledged that he would not have considered transferring from Ohio State if Joe Breschi had remained as head coach instead of leaving for North Carolina. Still, the decision was a tough one for Poillon.

"It was hard to leave 45 guys and coaches who you really respect and like a lot," he said. "It was one of the more difficult decisions I ever made. But it was probably the right decision for my future. I don’t regret it or anything."

Next Saturday, Poillon will meet his former Buckeyes teammates when Ohio State visits UMBC for a 1 p.m. game. Poillon said he is still tight with sophomore midfielder Zach Boyt and junior midfielder Andrew Stimmel – both of whom, like Poillon, hail from the Pittsburgh area – but his feelings for the Buckeyes won’t affect his play.

"I’m friends with a lot of them, but I want to beat them," he said. "Whatever I can do to help the team win that game, I’m going to be happy about and proud of. At the same time, I respect everybody on that team and the coaching staff. I wish them the best, but not against us."