As UMBC men’s lacrosse prepares for its home matchup with Towson on Feb. 28, the Retrievers have their sights set on eventually winning the America East and earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
But conference play comes before any of that, and the highlight is the local rivalry with the Tigers. The game means a lot to UMBC senior attackman Kevin Doughty, a native of Glenelg.
“It’s going to be a great atmosphere,” Doughty said on Glenn Clark Radio Feb. 25. “I chose UMBC because my family’s all from here, so I’ll have 20 to 25 people in town for this game, so it should be huge.”
The Retrievers are 2-0 so far this season, beating Drexel 9-6 in their first game and Mount St. Mary’s 12-6 in their second. Doughty scored a goal in the game against the Mountaineers.
Doughty, who has posted 20 goals and nine assists throughout his four-year career at UMBC, says to not be fooled by Towson’s 0-4 record. Doughty says the Tigers have played four quality opponents — Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Navy and Saint Joseph’s — and UMBC will have to prepare the right way in order to do well.
“It really comes with practice. You have to have five, four days of good practice every [week], come consistently ready to work,” Doughty said. “If you have good practices leading up to it, you’re going to have a good game. If you take one practice off, you might lose that day and it will affect you later down the road.”
Doughty was named a captain ahead of the season. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound attackman says the most important aspect of that role is working effectively with other captains and teammates.
“It’s not just one guy that’s telling the team what to do, it’s everyone coming together,” Doughty said. “Freshmen should be able to get on a senior. A senior should be able to get on a freshman. To have a cohesive unit, you can’t just have one leader saying, ‘Do this, do that.’ … Really, I just learned from my brother, Mike. He was a captain last year.”
Mike played at UMBC from 2021-2024 as an attackman, recording 49 goals and 73 assists in 44 games. Kevin couldn’t play alongside his brother as much as he would have liked due to injury, but he always looked up to Mike as a leader.
One thing Kevin will strive to do as a captain is to make sure everyone is doing their part rather than relying on one person.
“I like to preach that it’s six guys are on offense, so it’s not one guy that’s going to do all the work,” Doughty said. “Our offense is set up so everyone has success, and it’s not just one guy doing all the work. Definitely this year I feel a lot healthier than last year, so I should be able to contribute more.”
America East play begins against Vermont on March 15, and the conference tournament will take place in early May. The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“My freshman year, we made the America East championship. We unfortunately haven’t made it back, but I’ve got a good feeling this year,” Doughty said. “We’ve got a young crew. There’s a lot of room to grow. I think the guys that we have now are a really good squad, so I think we’ll be ready to go this week.”
For more from Doughty, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of UMBC Athletic Communications.