Emmitsburg, MD – Junior attacker Grace Bruce and classmate Katana Nelson enjoyed career performances as the UMBC women's lacrosse team defeated the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers, 15-11, on Wednesday afternoon at Waldron Family Stadium.
 
Bruce and Nelson scored five goals apiece while another junior, attacker Kolby Weedon, recorded a hat-trick in the first quarter and went over the 100-point mark for her career. Sophomore midfielder Libby Staples added a pair of goals and had four ground balls while sophomore midfielder Lauryn Warfield had 10 draw controls. Senior attacker Mary Ellis distributed a game-high three assists. Senior goalie Isabella Fontana made six saves.
 
UMBC (3-2), who outshot the Mount by a 21-17 margin, led 9-3 at halftime after dominating the first two quarters.
 
Bruce, who leads the Dawgs with 16 goals on the season, opened the scoring just 1:39 into the contest with an unassisted tally. Anna Salerno countered for the hosts just forty-seven seconds later to even the score.
 
Weedon then put the Retrievers ahead for good with back-to-back tallies at 11:20 and 10:01 of the first stanza. Ellis (team-leading 10 assists) provided the helper on the second goal after Weedon took matters into her own hands on the go-ahead tally. Weedon now leads UMBC with 19 points this season.
 
Salerno cut the deficit to 3-2 at the 9:09 mark of the first quarter, however, UMBC rattled off five straight markers to widen their lead to 8-2. The run stretched to the 1:50 mark of the second stanza.  Weedon ignited the burst with her third goal and then Bruce and Nelson each came up with a pair of winners.
 
The Mountaineers (0-4) scored the first goal of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 9-4 but Bruce answered right back off an assist by junior attacker Alexis Abe at the 11:10 mark.
 
The hosts then scored three straight goals to trim the deficit to 10-7 with 8:04 remaining in the third quarter but Staples stopped the bleeding with an unassisted tally at the 4:47 mark. Bruce then made it 12-7 with a woman up goal 1:20 later.
 
Salerno scored two consecutive goals to start the fourth quarter to bring the hosts within 12-9 with 9:11 left but Nelson answered with back-to-back goals to extend UMBC's lead to 14-9 with 7:24 remaining.  Nelson's first goal was a woman up tally, the Retrievers' third of the contest.
 
Nelson, an attacker, would put the finishing touches on her huge day as she scored the final goal of the game with a minute left.
 
UMBC controlled 21-of-29 draw controls in the contest.
 
Salerno scored a career-best six goals for the hosts, who went 7-of-8 on free position chances.
 
The Retrievers will travel to La Salle on Saturday afternoon.