1) Get off to a good start. The Retrievers' lone Achilles heel last season was inconsistent play from their face-off specialists, who won just 41.7 percent (159 of 381) of the time. On the flip side, Blue Hens senior Tommy Lee finished third in Division I with a .598 percentage. Sophomore Justin Radebaugh, who won 46.3 percent of his face-offs, will likely get the start, but junior J.D. Harkey and freshmen Joe Impallaria and Neill Lewnes could get their cracks at Lee. "We have a bunch of guys we can throw at him," Zimmerman said. "It may be face-off by committee. We have a lot of respect for him. He does a great job. So not only are we going to get a good performance out of our face-off men, but also out of our wing play."

2) Can UMBC be efficient? With possessions off face-offs likely becoming a premium, the onus is on the Retrievers to take care of the ball and convert chances on offense. Delaware junior goalie Noah Fossner ranked 18th in the country with a .566 save percentage last season, but only 30th in goals-against average (9.37). "We can’t be careless with the ball, Zimmerman said. "We have to be patient on offense and make good decisions and capitalize when we have the opportunities. It doesn’t matter if we’re coming from the midfield or the attack. Offense is offense, and we just need to be able to capitalize on the opportunities that we get."

3) UMBC needs to repeat last year's defensive effort. In the 14-9 win, Blue Hens senior attackman Curtis Dickson scored five times, but four other players were limited to a single goal. Perhaps even more telling, senior midfielder Martin Cahill could manage just a single assist. Dickson is a stud and will get his goals, but if the Retrievers can handcuff his teammates, they could emerge with their fourth season-opening victory in five years. "I don’t know if it’s any scheme or anything," Zimmerman said of last February's showing. "I just think we got a solid performance out of our defense, and we’ll have to do the same. And we’ll have to get a solid performance out of whoever steps into the goal for us."