BALTIMORE - The UMBC women's lacrosse team hits the road for the first time this season when they travel to take on the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers on Wednesday, February 19 at 4 p.m. at Waldron Family Stadium.
DAWG BITES
UMBC picked up its first win of the season on February 15 after they defeated VCU, 11-7.
The game was slow as the Retrievers only held a 3-1 lead at the half, but the Rams scored three-straight in the second half to take a 4-3 lead. UMBC went on an 8-1 run to take an 11-5 lead with five minutes remaining and never allowed VCU to come any closer.
Junior Lily Kennedy leads the team with seven points off four goals and three assists, followed by classmates Courtney Renehan (6g).
Goalkeeper Lexi Roberts ranks first in the nation and in the conference in groundballs per game, picking up 6.50 between the first two contests. Roberts is also first in the America East and seventh in the NCAA in saves per game at 13.00 and second in the conference and 20th in the country with a .520 saves percentage.
Renehan is 39th in the country and fourth in the conference with 3.50 groundballs per game and tied for sixth in the conference in goals at six. Kennedy is tied for fifth in points per game at 3.50.
GET TO KNOW: Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers
Mount St. Mary's opened its season with an 11-10 overtime victory over the George Washington Colonials on Saturday afternoon. The Mountaineers led, 10-9 before the Colonials tied the game up with 3:08 to play. Zoe Hulburt scored the game-winner in overtime off a feed from Jordan Groover for the victory.
The Mountaineers, who went 7-0 in NEC play last season and made an appearance in the NEC title game, return seven of their offensive 30+ point producers from 2019 including Groover, who was named NEC Rookie of the Year, and Jordan Butler, who took home the conference's Offensive Player of the Year award.
NEC Defensive Player of the Year Kaitlyn Ridenour returns after causing 17 turnovers and picking up 17 groundballs a season ago while pacing a defense that helped goalkeeper Jillian Petito to a 7.05 goals against average. In net, junior Jenna Oler is taking over the duties after Petito graduated, making 11 saves in her first start.
This will be the second week in a row and third time in the season that the Retrievers face off against a team coached by a former UMBC lacrosse player. Standout attacker Sam Nolan, who left the program's leader in assists (73) and fourth in points (190), is an assistant coach for The Mount; Jen (Kasper) O'Brien is the head coach at VCU and Ashley Peacock is an assistant coach out at UC Davis.
THE SERIES
-The two teams have met 18 times before, with the Retrievers holding a 16- 2 advantage over the Mountaineers,
-Last season, The Mount broke UMBC's seven-game winning streak in the series as they defeated the Retrievers, 9-8. After the game was tied at 8-8 with 1:52 to play, the Mountaineers controlled the ensuing draw and scored with 39.9 seconds on the clock.
