UMBC was in the midst of what would become the longest game in program history Saturday when the Retrievers and Stony Brook entered a fourth overtime. It still wasn’t close to the longest game in coach Ryan Moran’s career.

Moran was an assistant at Maryland during a seven-overtime loss at Virginia in 2009, and the echoes of that marathon contest came to mind as UMBC looked to collect a second consecutive victory in extra time to open the season.

“That was a game I kind of referenced to the staff when we were meeting in between,” Moran said. “I said, ‘We’re going into the fourth overtime. I’ve been in a game where there’s seven. You fall into this trap of thinking there’s this secret play you haven’t thought of that you need to run. It’s not. You need to keep doing what you’re doing, but you need to do it better.’”

Eventually, the Retrievers (2-0) did just that, getting a man-up goal from Nick Dupuis with 1:09 left in the fourth overtime to claim a 13-12 triumph in the America East opener for both teams.

It was a vastly different OT experience than the opener, when UMBC rallied to erase a three-goal deficit in the final three minutes of regulation, then got a Mason Edwards goal six seconds into the extra period to beat Mount St. Mary’s 8-7.

It was the first time UMBC won back-to-back games in overtime since knocking off Maryland and Ohio State in 2008, and the season opener snapped the Retrievers’ four-game skid in overtime that dated back to 2016.

“The team that’s going to win is the team that makes a play — don’t wait to do that,” Moran said. “In years past, I think the tendency is to be slow and methodical, and the kids aren’t attacking and it’s hard to get goals when you don’t have six guys attacking in unison. I don’t know if that’s been it. I certainly would rather get a victory in regulation, but I also think these games will give us experience down the road if we have to play in overtime again.”

This UMBC team — older, more balanced and more than capable on faceoffs — represents the program’s latest improvement under Moran. In 2017, he was a first-time head coach trying to get a grasp of the job. The next year, UMBC led the country in scoring defense but finished 69th of 71 Division I teams in goals per game.

Things got better in 2019, including a late-season breakthrough that included an America East title run and a victory in an NCAA tournament play-in game. With an older offense and sophomore Alex Poma’s capable faceoff work (.551), the Retrievers might be on their way to another step forward this season.

Even if it takes overtime on occasion.

“In 2019, we started to kind of connect to the middle of the field. We got an improvement on faceoff play, we still had some pretty solid, stout defense,” Moran said. “We had a really big improvement offensively in ’19. All that is done through culture, time and recruiting. Then 2020, the COVID year, and we’re hoping this will be a little bit of an extension of that in terms of having complete and balanced disciplined play all over the field.”

NUMBERS OF NOTE

10

North Carolina attackman Chris Gray had 10 points (six goals, four assists) in Saturday’s 16-8 defeat of Mercer. Gray is just the seventh Tar Heel ever to produce a 10-point game and the first since Marcus Holman had six goals and four assists against Michigan on May 5, 2012.

11

Delaware attackman Tye Kurtz had 11 points (five goals, six assists) in a 17-9 defeat of Fairfield to open Colonial Athletic Association play. It was the most points for a Blue Hen since John Grant Jr. had 11 against North Carolina on April 3, 1999.

20

Georgetown scored 20 goals in a conference game for the first time in program history when it blitzed Marquette 20-13. The Hoyas, who scored 19 the previous week against St. John’s, first joined a conference in 2000 (ECAC) before the Big East began sponsoring men’s lacrosse in 2010.

32

It’s been 32 years since Rutgers scored 22 goals in back-to-back games, which it did in 22-12 routs of Ohio State and Michigan the last two Saturdays. The only other time the Scarlet Knights accomplished the feat was in March 1989, when they beat Sonoma State (27-5), Whittier (33-7) and Fairleigh Dickinson (32-1) in a seven-day span.