The UMBC men's lacrosse team played an exceedingly clean game versus red-hot Michigan, but the young Retrievers could not match a pair of Michigan upperclassmen and fell to the Wolverines, 9-6, before 660 in cool, clear conditions at UMBC Stadium. UMBC freshman attackman Steven ZIchelli (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) recorded his first career hat-trick and added an assist for his second four-point game. UMBC held Michigan (7-2), winners of five straight and coming off a win at No. 4 Notre Dame to three goals below their season average. But Michigan senior goalkeeper Tommy Heidt turned aside 13 UMBC shots and junior midfielder Brent Noseworthy scored four times in the visitors' hard-fought victory. UMBC committed only six turnovers to 17 for Michigan and cleared successfully in all 15 attempts. The Retrievers enjoyed a +16 margin in shots at 42-26, but Heidt started fast by stopping six of seven shots on goal in the first 15 minutes and kept UMBC at bay throughout. The Retrievers took a 1-0 lead on freshman Ben Keller's (Grand Rapids, Mich.) fourth goal of the season at the 6:03 mark of the first period. But the Wolverines then embarked on the game's only multiple-goal run by scoring four consecutive times to earn a 4-1 lead with only 3:14 to play in the first half. Michigan led, 2-1, after one quarter and, and 5-2 at the half, as freshman attackman Alex Buckanavage scored with 0.7 seconds to play before the break. On five occasions, UMBC trimmed the deficit to two goals, but Michigan struck back to extend to three all five times. In fact, the Wolverines won all but one draw and scored within 1:21 after each of the last five Retriever goals. UMBC senior Max Haldeman (York, Pa.) gave UMBC its final hope by scoring his first of the season with 1:40 remaining. But Michigan's Connor Cronin won the ensuing draw, and with UMBC double-teaming the ball, Noseworthy scored on a one-on-one situation with UMBC red-shirt junior netminder David Pisanic (Towson, Md./Boys' Latin) with 1:07 remaining to ice the victory. Cronin won 11-of-18 draws and led all players with eight ground balls. Pisanic totaled five saves in the Retrievers' final non-conference game of the season. Junior midfielder Billy Nolan (Crofton, Md./Arundel) was the other Retriever to post a multiple-point game, scoring his team-leading tenth goal of the season and adding an assist. UMBC (2-6, 0-1 America East) gets back to league play next Saturday at UMass Lowell.