BALTIMORE --- Junior midfielder Katana Nelson scored a game-high four goals, but the host UMBC women's lacrosse team lost a 14-13 overtime decision in the regular-season finale against the Binghamton Bearcats on Saturday afternoon at UMBC Stadium.

A victory would have secured the America East regular-season championship and the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament for UMBC, who finished 9-5 and 4-2 in the league. The Retrievers have secured a berth in the conference tournament for the first time since 2022.

Nelson scored three of her four goals in the final half, while redshirt junior Kolby Weedon and junior Grace Bruce recorded hat tricks. Weedon and sophomore defender Ella Killian both caused a career-high four turnovers.

How It Happened

• Nelson opened the scoring with an unassisted tally just fifty-five seconds into the contest, but Binghamton (9-6, 4-1 AE) answered with four straight goals in just a minute and forty-two seconds. Kristen Scheidel scored twice during the spurt.
• The Retrievers responded with back-to-back goals by sophomore attacker Lizzie Bateman (from Nelson) and Bruce to cut the deficit to 4-3 with 4:34 left in the frame.
• The Bearcats scored twice in the final 2:15 to grab a 6-3 advantage after the opening frame.
• UMBC dominated the second quarter, scoring the first three goals to even the score. Bruce ignited the spurt with two straight goals, and Weedon found the back of the net to get the hosts even with 1:11 left before the break.
• The visitors beat the halftime buzzer as Madison Murphy scored with just a second left to give the Bearcats a 7-6 advantage at intermission.
• Weedon struck again to tie the score at 7-7 with 12:10 left in the third quarter, her 30th tally of the campaign.
• Murphy and Emma Blloshmi recorded back-to-back goals to put Binghamton up by a score of 9-7 with 6:48 left in the third,
• Bruce set up sophomore midfielder Libby Staples to bring UMBC within a goal, and then Nelson produced a woman-up marker to tie the game at 9-9 at the 3:59 mark.
• The Bearcats closed out the frame with goals by Murphy and Hayley Weltner to take an 11-9 heading into the final quarter.
• UMBC went on a 3-1 run to open the fourth quarter and knotted the game at 12-12 with 6:43 left. Alexis Abe scored an unassisted goal to open the burst, and Nelson scored back-to-back markers after Olivia Muscolino scored for the Bearcats.
• Muscolino put the visitors ahead on an unassisted tally with 5:13 remaining, but Weedon forced overtime after a tally with 3:36 left in regulation.
• The Bearcats took advantage of a UMBC penalty in the midfield to win in overtime. Gabriella Meli scored a woman-up goal from point-blank range after taking a feed from Carla Curth just 1:16 into the extra session.