Smithfield, RI - The fourth-seeded UMBC women's lacrosse team had their season end after falling to the top-seeded Bryant Bulldogs, 12-9, in the America East Semifinals on Friday afternoon at Beirne Stadium.

Senior Katana Nelson, the 2025 America East Midfielder of the Year, recorded a team-high three goals, five ground balls, and a pair of caused turnovers. Senior First Team All-Conference selection Grace Bruce added two goals and dished out a team-high three assists. Graduate student goalie Isabella Fontana made 12 saves.

UMBC (11-5, 3-3 AE) enjoyed a dream first quarter, holding a 6-1 advantage after the opening 15 minutes of play, but the Retrievers were outplayed the rest of the way.

The Dawgs scored three goals in the opening 3:20 of the contest as Bruce opened the scoring off a pretty feed from America East Rookie of the Year Emily Knapp. Nelson then scored back-to-back unassisted goals. Knapp, Bruce, and Nelson scored the final three markers in the stanza after Ashling Marshall got the hosts on the board at the eight-minute mark.

UMBC still held a 7-2 advantage with just 4:24 left before halftime after junior midfielder Lauryn Warfield scored off a pass from Bruce.

Bryant's (11-6, 5-1 AE) Amelia Piercy answered with just over a minute left to cut the deficit to 7-3 at intermission.

Elise Larsen and Marshall scored the first two goals of the third quarter to bring Bryant within 7-5 with 8:34 left in the stanza. Freshman Annika Wray then delivered an unassisted goal to stop the momentum with 4:17 left. However, Gabriella Constant and Riley O'Mara scored the final two goals of the quarter to bring the Bulldogs within 8-7 after forty-five minutes of play.

Bryant evened the game a minute into the fourth quarter for the first time as Piercy delivered a woman-up tally.

Junior attacker Libby Staples took a feed from Bruce and gave UMBC their final lead of the day, 9-8, with 10:40 remaining.

The hosts dominated the remainder of the way, scoring four unanswered goals to overtake the Retrievers. Constant (three goals) scored back-to-back goals to give her team the lead for good with 5:45 left in the contest. O'Mara (three goals, two assists) gave the Bulldogs two more insurance goals to put the game out of reach.

UMBC was outshot by a 33-23 margin and committed 20 costly turnovers compared to just 13 by the hosts.

Nelson (119 career goals) finished the campaign with 55 goals, the fourth-most by a Retriever in single-season history. Fontana climbed to fifth place on the all-time saves list with 399 stops. Junior attackman Lizzie Bateman dished 30 assists, the third-most in a season in program history. Knapp led the team with 68 points in her first season of competition.