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CATONSVILLE, Md. — It would be hard to find a more fitting song to blast over the speakers at UMBC Stadium on Friday night. The Retrievers were leading the No. 1 team in the nation — the undefeated and seemingly unflappable Albany Great Danes — 11-5 with 1:46 remaining in the game. The biggest upset of the college lacrosse season was imminent.

Then, “Magic” by B.O.B. came on. The lyrics aren’t ingenious, but it was hard to mistake the word “magic” being repeated ad nauseam. 

It was a perfect song for the moment, as another UMBC team was on its way to taking down a No. 1, just three weeks to the day from when its basketball team shocked the world by knocking off top overall seed Virginia in the NCAA tournament. 

“I guess the basketball team is contagious,” UMBC coach Ryan Moran joked.

The Retrievers entered Friday’s matchup with a 2-7 record and an offense that ranked dead last in Division I averaging 6.56 goals per game. They were up against the top defense in the country in Albany, which had allowed opponents just seven goals per game.

Albany entered UMBC Stadium as the heavy favorite. But the Retrievers jumped out to a big halftime lead and held a Great Danes offense that sputtered without injured attackmen Connor Fields and Justin Reh in check to pull the 11-7 shocker.

It was the first time the Retrievers had scored more than seven goals this season, and the first time the Great Danes were held under 10. The loss snapped Albany’s 31-game America East winning streak.

There’s just something magical about UMBC athletics this spring.

“It was our time to shine,” said defenseman Jason Brewster, who was tasked with defending freshman phenom Tehoka Nanticoke, who had one goal entering the final minute of the game. “It’s kind of an inspiration to us. Coach was saying that they lost to Albany in basketball by 40 points and then came out and beat Virginia. It was an inspiration to us to show that we can go out and do something like that, too.”

Before the upset, UMBC’s season had not panned out exactly the way Moran had hoped. The Retrievers were down two starting attackmen — Trevor Patschorke and Ryan Frawley — and had missed Mitch Howell for the entire season.

“Some things just haven’t gone our way this season, but I’m happy for the guys today,” Moran said. “They invested in their sacrifice and they got rewarded.”

If UMBC needed any belief that it could beat Albany, it got it quickly. The Retrievers scored twice in the game’s first five minutes, eliciting roars and mosh pits from their sideline. The Great Danes responded with goals from Troy Reh and Kyle McClancy, but UMBC found its gear shortly after.

The Retrievers scored six straight goals to close out the half with an 8-2 lead. Billy Nolan had a goal and two assists during the run — part of a game-high five points on three goals and two assists (he also chipped in two caused turnovers).

Down big, Albany didn’t quit. It scored three of four goals out of halftime, including two from McClancy, to cut the deficit to 9-5 with 10:38 remaining. But every time it looked like the Great Danes offense had ignited, Retrievers’ freshman goalie Tommy Lingner came up with a big save.

Lingner tallied a career-high 16 saves in the game, just the 10th of his college career.

“We got a good look in practice of how they shoot,” Lingner said. “Albany doesn’t shoot like a traditional team. They’ll go behind the back and between the legs, anything you can think of. I just had to stay ready, and I couldn’t be happier about the defense that we played.”

Albany’s offense was shorthanded, without the services of a Tewaaraton candidate and leading scorer in Fields (sprained MCL) and Reh (upper body), who had 14 goals this season.

Without a go-to option for the offense and Lingner making crucial saves, the Great Danes couldn’t put together a rally of more than two goals. Nolan and Ben Keller added two more goals to push the lead to an insurmountable 11-5. 

Lingner’s saves, a strong defensive performance and Albany’s struggling offense negated another dominant day from Great Danes faceoff man TD Ierlan, who went 19-for-21. UMBC had held all but two opponents under 10 goals this season.

“We made them have to earn it on the 6-on-6,” Moran said. “[Ierlan] is such a tremendous player. It’s almost automatic a little bit. We just didn’t give him any offense off the faceoff.”

Albany outshot UMBC 42-36, but the Retrievers beat goalie J.D. Colarusso when they needed a boost.

“I didn’t play very well,” Colarusso said. “The defense didn’t play very well. It was just a combination of that. We hurt ourselves more than they hurt us.”

The win was UMBC’s first over a No. 1 team since 1998, when it took down Maryland.

It’s been a wild few weeks for a Retrievers staff that witnessed the basketball team’s historic upset of Virginia last month. Zach Seidel, the voice behind the Twitter account @UMBCAthletics, was on call for the lacrosse game.

Maybe he's the good luck charm. By the end of the game, he had the Alabama football team tweeting at him.

“It’s fun and it’s crazy,” Seidel said. “It’s great for the school. I don’t know if Nick Saban will know who I am or what Twitter is, though.”