The men’s lacrosse team travels to No. 15 UMBC on Saturday for its third conference game. The Retrievers are coming off an upset win over crosstown rival No. 12 Towson and a dominating 15-8 performance at Hartford.

A pair of attack men pace the Retrievers in scoring. Senior Drew Westervelt, a second-team all-conference pick in 2006, has both created and finished offensive opportunities. He has tallied 18 goals and 19 assists in ten games.

‘They play their top six guys for most of the game,’ said head coach Ed Stephenson.

After their starting attack men and midfielders, UMBC is thin on the bench. Binghamton needs to wear out the Retrievers’ starting line with physical and quick play in order to take advantage of UMBC’s lack of depth. Stephenson thinks the game will be won in the battles for ground balls and faceoffs.

‘They run a deliberate offense with long possessions on the offensive end,’ Stephenson said. ‘The key to a game like that is picking up the ground balls. The ground ball battle will be huge.’

Binghamton has picked up 289 ground balls this season, while its opponents have scooped up 329.

Another key will be in the faceoff circle. Sophomore J.P. Wioncek has been hampered with small injuries, which have made him inconsistent in his draws. In Bearcat wins this season, he won .714 of his faceoffs, but in losses, he won just .416. Wioncek meets a tough opponent in UMBC’s Taylor Marino, who owns a .551 faceoff percentage.

While Binghamton’s offense has flourished recently, Stephenson sees a need for improvement in shooting. The team hasn’t been able to finish its close shots in crunch time.

Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. A live radio feed will be available at UMBCretrievers.com.