UMBC gets second crack -- within five days -- at Hartford
UMBC’s 10-6 loss to Hartford on Saturday night not only ended a four-game run for the Retrievers, but it also translated into another trip to Connecticut.
Because of the setback, UMBC (6-6 overall and 3-2 in the America East) dropped to the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, and a semifinal match with the aforementioned Hawks (9-6, 3-2) awaits on Wednesday night.
Now the burden is on the Retrievers to overcome a quick turnaround and a repeat trip to Hartford.
“That’s the beauty of home-field advantage,” UMBC coach Don Zimmerman said Monday. “You can stay at home and play on your home field. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to get the game down here at UMBC, and now we have to go back. That’s something we have to be able to handle and go back up there with the attitude that we’re still playing and let’s see if we can do a better job this time around.”
The Retrievers outshot the Hawks, 49-29, but only 23 of those attempts were on net. Junior goalkeeper Scott Bement made 14 saves, but Zimmerman said the offense must improve its shot selection.
“He made some real nice saves, and then all of a sudden, shooters are starting to try to be too accurate as far as where they’re putting the ball,” Zimmerman said. “But I also felt like we took some ill-advised shots to bad places. Some of those saves were real good saves, and some of those were, I thought, way too easy.”
UMBC also faltered in extra-man situations. Despite entering the contest ranked 15th in Division I in man-up opportunities (13-of-36 for .361), the team converted just 1-of-8 chances against Hartford.
“They run a bouncing, shut off-type defense where they shut off different players,” Zimmerman said. “That was something we had prepared for, but our guys weren’t used to seeing that in a game. So I think it threw us off a little bit. But we had plenty of opportunities, but we just weren’t outing our shots on goal. That’s something that we have two days to work on because I feel like they’re an aggressive team and they will foul. If we don’t make them pay for their fouls, they’re going to remain aggressive, and our man up has got to do a better job.”
The Hawks have won the last three meetings in this series, but Zimmerman expressed confidence in his team.
“They played well, and I don’t think we played to our ability,” he said. “The key is going to be, can we go up there and play to the best of our ability for 60 minutes? That’s what you have to do at this point in the year. We’re playing sudden-death lacrosse now. So you have to be able to put your best game out on the field, and that’s going to be our goal.”
