STONY BROOK, N.Y. - It was a close-fought game in the opening semifinal game in the America East tournament, but the fourth-seeded UMBC women's lacrosse team fell, 25-13, to the top-seed Stony Brook Seawolves on Thursday, May 6. 

The Retrievers end their season at 6-6 overall, while the Seawolves move to 13-2 on the year. 

With her 11 draw controls on the afternoon, sophomore Megan Halczuk (Fawn Grove, Pa.) became the first Retriever in program history to record 100 draw controls in a season, finishing 2021 with 104. Earlier this season against Binghamton, she broke the single-game record after recording 14 draws. 

Classmate Claire Bockstie (Forest Hill, Md./Maryvale Preparatory) led the Retrievers with eight points off six goals and two assists, while sophomore Jenna McDermott (South Carroll, Md./South Carroll) netted three goals on the day. 

UMBC started out strong in the first half, scoring four goals to open the game. Graduate student Katie Schluederberg (Elkridge, Md./Howard/Penn State) notched the opening goal of the 2021 #AEChamps almost three minutes into the game before McDermott added her first about a minute later.

Bockstie scored back-to-back, including an assisted goal from Schluederberg, to help put UMBC up 4-0 with 25:22 to play in the first half.

Stony Brook got on the board with three-straight goals and cut the Retriever lead to 4-3 at the 21:08 mark before freshman Lillian Begley (Gaithersburg, Md./Mother of Divine Grace) added another for UMBC to bump the advantage to 5-3.

The Seawolves used a four-goal run to take the lead for the first time, 7-5, with 8:27 to play before Bockstie scored twice to tie the game up at 7-7. Stony Brook ended the first half on a 4-1 run to take an 11-8 advantage into halftime, with Bockstie scoring her fifth of the half with 1:42 on the clock.

Stony Brook extended its lead to nine, 17-8, by using a six-goal spurt to open the second half. Halczuk stopped the run, followed by two player-up goals from junior Megan Cleverly (Middletown, Md./Middletown) and Bockstie to cut the lead down to six, 17-11, with 19:30 to play in the game. 

The Seawolves controlled the rest of the game, scoring eight goals to close out the period. McDermott put two more goals into the net, with help from Bockstie, during the last 15 minutes of play. 

In goal, senior Lexi Roberts (Baldwin, Md./Fallston/Army West Point) made nine saves in 37 minutes of play. Freshman Isabella Fontana (Chevy Chase, Md./Academy of the Holy Cross) made three saves in relief. 

For the Seawolves, Ally Kennedy led all goal scorers with seven, while Taryn Ohlmiller post a seven-point day with five goals and two assists.