Fairfield versus UMBC Pre Game Report Saturday March 2, 2013
To the Founders and Friends of Fairfield Lacrosse-The #13/#14 Fairfield Stags will play on Saturday March 2nd at 1 PM on Alumni Field and entertain the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers. Currently the Stags have a 2-2 record for the 2013 season and the Retrievers 1-2 record. Last season the two teams played in Baltimore and the Stags won a 10-9 OT thriller. The Stags will look to get back on track after a two game losing skein and throw away Tuesday’s loss to Hofstra.
The Retrievers of UMBC started the year on February 9th with a road loss to Robert Morris by 12-9 score. UMBC beat Rutgers in UMBC’s home opener by a 11-7 margin. On Tuesday night, they traveled cross town and played the National Champion’s Loyola in miserable conditions. The first quarter saw the Retrievers have its best offensive 1st quarter in the young season with 4 goals coming off 11 shots. Loyola jumped out to leads of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 but UMBC tied up the score at 3-3 with 3:44 to play in the quarter. The Retrievers took their first lead of the game at 4-3 with a goal coming with 23 seconds left in the period. Loyola and UMBC trades goals early in the second quarter but Loyola scored four of the next five goals to take a 8-6 lead into halftime. With the teams exchanging goals in the early third quarter, UMBC closed the margin to 9-7 at the 12:19 mark of the third period. Loyola then went on a 10-0 run with eight goals coming in the final 10 minutes of the third quarter and two goals in the final stanza. The final score was 21-9.
The Retrievers have scored 29 goals off of 101 shots this season for a 9.67 goals scored average with a shot percentage of .287. Their opponents have scored 40 goals off of 118 shots and 13.33 goals scored average with a .339 shot percentage. UMBC is averaging 33.7 shots per game and their opponents are averaging 39.3 shots per game. The Retrievers have scored 16 goals via the assist and 13 unassisted goals. Their opponents have scored 25 times this season with an assist and 15 unassisted goals. UMBC’s extra man up unit has scored 2 goals out of 9 chances for a .222 conversion rate. The opponents have hit the back of the net 4 times with an extra man out of 11 for a .364 conversion rate. One opponent scored a man down goal on the Retrievers this season.
UMBC has gotten to 89 ground balls this year and their opponents have scooped up 108 ground balls. They have turned the ball over 89 times while the opponents have had 61 turnovers. The Retrievers’ defense have caused 36 of the turnovers while the opponent’s defense caused UMBC to turn the ball over 27 times. The face off unit has won 36 face offs and lost 43 face offs for a .456 wining percentage. The opposition has won 43 face off and lost 36 face off battles for a .544 winning percentage. The Retrievers are clearing at a .820 percentage rate and the opponents have cleared the ball with a .846 rate. UMBC have been flagged 14 times this season while their opponents have cleared the ball a .846 percentage rate.
UMBC has been consistent in scoring by the quarters with 8 goals coming in the first, third and fourth quarters. They have scored 5 goals in the second period. The opponents have scored 13 goals in the third period and 10 goals in the fourth quarter. The Retrievers’ opponents have also scored 9 goals in the first period and 8 goals in the second quarter.
Leading UMBC in scoring is Scott Jones who has 8 points this season, seven goals and one assist. Joe Lustgarten is second on the team with one goal and five assists. Both Pat Young and Matt Gregorie have scored five goals and no assists this season. Nat Lewnes has four points-two goals and two assists. Adam Cohen has been their starting goal keeper playing 165 of the 180 minutes the Retrievers have played. He has allowed 36 goals and has a 13.09 goals against average. He has been credited with 27 saves for a .429 save percentage. Adam has faced 107 shots this season. Relieving Adam in the fourth quarter of the Loyola game was Wes DeRito. He played 15 minutes and allowed 4 goals for a 16.00 goals against average. He was credited with one save for a .200 save percentage. Loyola took 11 shots on him in the fourth quarter. The Loyola onslaught really skews the goal keepers numbers.
The Stags are reeling from the upset by Hofstra on Tuesday by a 9-2 score. Fairfield has scored 29 goal this year after taking 128 shot attempts for a 7.25 goals per game average and a .227 shot percentage. Their opponents have scored 34 goals with the opposition has taken 161 shot attempts for a 8.50 goals per game average and a.211 shot percentage. Fairfield has taken 32 shots per game and the opponents are averaging 40.2 shots per game. The Stags have gotten 16 goals via an assist and 13 unassisted goals while the opponents have 15 goals via the assist and 19 unassisted goals. Fairfield have converted only one extra man goal this season going 3-18 this season for .167 conversion rate while the opponents have scored 5 goals in 16 attempts for a .312 conversion rate. The only good thing about the Hofstra game was that the EMO unit did convert twice in the game and Coach Copelan wants the unit to play faster and move the ball quicker around the wheel.
Fairfield has gotten to 118 ground balls and the opponents have scooped up 145 ground balls. The Stags have turned the ball over 65 times this year while the opponents are turning the ball over 60 times. Fairfield’s defense has caused 28 turnovers this season and the opponents have caused the Stags to turn the ball over 41 times. In the face off circle, Fairfield has won 30 of 75 attempts for a .400 winning percentage and the opponents have been successful 45 times out of 75 chances for a .600 winning percentage. The Stags have been successful on .807 percentage of their clears and the opposition has cleared the ball with a .857 percentage. Fairfield has been penalized 16 times this season and the opponents have been flagged 18 times.
The fourth period has been the most successful for the Stags with 11 goals being scored and 8 goals in the second quarter. The opening stanza has seen Fairfield score six times in the 2013 campaign and four goals in the third period. The opponents best scoring period is also the final quarter with 13 goals and the second period with 9 goals. Opponents have scored eight times in the third quarter and four time in the first period.
Leading the Stags in scoring are Jordan Greenfield with 8 goals and 2 assists for 10 points and Sam Snow is with 7 goals and three assist for 10 points. Super Soph Colin McLinden has one goal and five assists for six points and Nick Guida also has six points with five goals and one assist. Frosh TJ Neubauer has so far two goal and two assists for four points. Tristian Sperry has three goals for three points for the year along with Eric Warden who has one goal and two assists. Jack Murphy has played all 240 minutes in goal this year. He has allowed 34 goals for a 8.50 goals against average and getting 52 saves for a .605 save percentage. Murphy has faced 161 shots so far in this season
Where do both teams go on Saturday afternoon after their respective big losses on Tuesday? What did the Loyola loss do to the confidence of the UMBC team? What did the Hofstra loss do to the Fairfield psyche? I looked at Robert Morris’ and Rutgers’ results to see if I could spot common opponents and/or trends? Robert Morris played Detroit and beat them as did Navy. Rutgers has played 2 weak opponents and lost to an improved Air Force (a future ECAC opponent). Will UMBC come into Fairfield all charged up to beat the Stags who they lost to in OT in 2012 and a ranked team? Looking at the stats, I got to believe the Fairfield defense and goal keeping has an advantage over UMBC. But, how does the 21 goals scored by Loyola skew the numbers? I am still mystified how a strong offensive team like Fairfield could be held to two goals on Tuesday. I expect Coach Copelan will make the necessary changes to boost the offensive production against UMBC. Will be at the game on Saturday. Going to have to miss some games down the line as my daughter Claire’s team Ursinus College starts its season next week in Florida. GO STAGS. Roger Yergeau ’73
