Albany, NY – The No. 3 seeded UMBC women's lacrosse team dropped a 13-8 decision against the No. 2 seeded Binghamton Bearcats in the semifinals of the 2024 America East Championships on Friday afternoon at John Fallon Field.
Senior goalie Isabella Fontana did all she could to keep the Retrievers in the game, making ten saves in her final career contest in the cage. Junior attacker Grace Bruce produced her 10th hat trick of the season while classmates Kolby Weedon and Katana Nelson scored two goals each. Senior attacker Mary Ellis added a pair of assists, and classmate Kennedy Evans picked up her 72nd career caused turnover to establish a new program record in the category.
UMBC (9-6) trailed just 8-7 after Weedon's second tally of the contest with 9:18 left in the third quarter, but the Bearcats scored the next four goals to take control. The Retrievers could not get closer than four goals for the remainder of the game.
The Retrievers jumped out to a great start, leading 3-1 after Bruce scored her second goal of the day with 8:25 left in the opening frame. Ellis found Bruce just 4:45 into the match to make it 1-0 before the Bearcats notched the equalizer just under a minute later.
Nelson put UMBC ahead 2-1 with an unassisted tally as she followed up her shot with a spectacular goal at 8:44. Bruce followed up with a free position tally just 19 ticks later, her 50th marker of the season.
Binghamton (11-6) received back-to-back scores from Olivia Muscolino (three goals, two assists) to knot the score at 3-3 with 4:07 left in the first quarter. Ellis then found junior attacker Alexis Abe to give UMBC the lead back, 4-3, with 2:12 left in the frame, but Madison Murphy (three goals) beat Fontana to tie the game at 4-4 just before the end of the quarter.
UMBC took their final lead, 5-4, when Bruce scored a woman-up goal just 1:22 into the second frame.
The Bearcats rattled off three straight goals to claim their first advantage, 7-5, with 1:53 left in the opening half. Kristen Schheidel (2 assists) had a goal and an assist during the spurt.
Weedon opened the third quarter scoring with an unassisted tally at the 11:09 mark, but Murphy answered just twenty-five seconds later to make it 8-6.
Weedon produced her 37th tally of the season to inch UMBC within 8-7 with 9:18 left in the third quarter, but the Bearcats took control over the final 24 minutes of the contest.
Binghamton went 3-for-7 on free-position chances, while UMBC was 1-of-2. The Bearcats held a slight edge in shots (35-32) and draw controls (13-12).
Bruce became just the tenth Retriever to hit the 50-goal mark in a single-season as she finished with 51 winners in her first season in Baltimore.
