BALTIMORE - The UMBC women's lacrosse team (2-8, 1-3 AEC) held a 12-10 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the game, but Albany (6-3, 1-1 AEC) scored seven unanswered goals to earn the comeback 17-12 victory Wednesday evening at UMBC Stadium.
The Great Danes tallied the first two goals of the game before three minutes had ticked off the clock, but the Retrievers tied the score less than four minutes later.
Albany took a 4-3 lead with 16:38 remaining in the first half before UMBC used a 4-0 run to go ahead by a margin of 7-4. The Retrievers held an 8-6 advantage at halftime, as senior attack Ali Levendusky, junior midfielder Abbey Swift and freshman midfielder Megan Linkous all tallied twice in the period. Albany attack Kayla Best scored three times in the first half.
After Albany attack Jane Bush scored on a feed from Best just 22 seconds into the second period, the Retrievers scored three straight to go ahead by a game-high four goals, 11-7, with 21 minutes remaining.
But the Great Danes controlled the final 21 minutes, winning eight of 11 draw controls and scoring 10 of the last 11 goals of the game. A 3-0 spurt over the next four minutes included two goals by attack Tee Ladouceur.
After UMBC freshman midfielder Amanda Pappas notched her third goal of the game at the 15:11 mark, Albany tallied seven unanswered goals, with three by Ladouceur and two by Best, to complete the come-from-behind victory.
Pappas led the Retrievers with her first career hat trick, while Levendusky (2g, 1a) and senior attack Meghan Keelan (1g, 2a) each tallied three points. Levendusky scored less than three goals for just the second time this season, but still moved into ninth place all-time at UMBC with 116 career goals.
In addition, sophomore Kelly Burgoyne led the Retrievers with four caused turnovers, three draw controls and three ground balls.
Ladouceur and Best each finished with six goals and seven points, and Best was 4-for-5 in free-position shots.
Sophomore Kate Quick and junior Susie Sweeney split time in goal, with Quick recording four saves and allowing 12 goals in 49:45 of action and Sweeney giving up five goals and not stopping a shot in 10:15. Katie Neer went the distance in the cage for Albany and posted eight saves.
UMBC out-shot Albany, 35-28, including 24-12 in the first half, but the Great Danes held a 16-14 advantage on draw controls, including 10-5 in the second period.
The Retrievers return to action on Saturday, when they host Cal-Berkeley at 12 p.m. at UMBC Stadium.
