Box Score Dover, Delaware – The UMBC women's lacrosse team scored 11 unanswered goals in the opening half, en route to a 20-5 victory against the Delaware State Hornets in their season opener on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Senior Grace Bruce and freshman Emily Knapp tied for a game-high with five goals each. Bruce, a First Team America East All-Conference preseason pick, also added three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Junior Libby Staples produced three goals while junior Lizzie Bateman dished a career high four assists. Ellie Lawton was a standout on defense as the senior came up with a game-high four ground balls along with four caused turnovers.
 
The Hornets scored two goals in the first 2:09 of the contest to grab a quick 2-0 advantage.
 
The Retrievers responded with 11 unanswered goals to take complete control of the game, building an 11-2 lead midway through the second quarter.
 
Bruce scored four times during the run, including three in the opening quarter. Senior Katana Nelson, also an America East Conference preseason pick, put UMBC ahead for good, 3-2, when she rifled in an unassisted goal with 7:19 left in the opening quarter. Freshman Mya Stewart-Parsons scored her first career goal off an assist from junior Courtney Devilbiss to give the Dawgs a 6-2 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
 
UMBC continued to build their lead by outscoring the hosts by a 5-2 margin in the second quarter. The Retrievers took an 11-4 advantage at halftime as they scored the first five markers of the quarter. Staples scored a pair of goals during the stretch.
 
The visitors continued to pull away in the third quarter as they scored all four goals in the period. Knapp scored on back-to-back free position shots to cap the quarter.
 
It was more of the same in the final quarter as three Retrievers netted their first career goals, Tess Curtis, Ave Martin, and Ava Perrone, all on free position chances.
 
UMBC held a 43-11advantage in shots on goal and forced 16 turnovers.
 
Graduate student Isabella Fontana made a pair of saves in three quarters of play.

The Retrievers host Howard this Saturday at noon.