FARMVILLE, Va. – Battling a UMBC team that dominated last season's contest, the Longwood women's lacrosse team fought to the final whistle before falling just shy 13-10 in their upset bid Saturday from Elizabeth Burger Jackson Field.

Led by  a six-point effort from Carolyn Jamison and a four-goal afternoon for Lauren McDonald, UMBC (7-2) was able to hang on late and survive and upset-minded Longwood (3-5) squad.

"This game was a great test for us and although we ultimately lost, we can take a lot of good lessons from it," said sixth-year head coach Elaine Jones. "On the positive side, the players definitely battled hard all game and never gave up against a team that blew them out last year."

After four ties and four lead changes in the first half, UMBC was able to grab a 6-5 lead at the 7:36 mark of the first half and hang on the rest of the way despite multi-goal performances from Longwood's Lexi Davis, Madison Stair, Dana Joss and Kaitlin Luccarelli. The quartet headlined an efficient offensive performance as 15 of the Lancers' 17 shots were sent on goal (.882), the team's highest on-goal percentage this season.

Meanwhile, senior Riley Dolan collected her team-leading 31st point on her 15th goal of the season.

"Unlike last year, we were able to keep the game close enough to give ourselves the opportunity to go for the upset, which shows what a different team we are this year," Jones said.

Coming off a strong freshman campaign, Luccarelli's latest hat trick led the team offensively as classmate Davis added a team-best three assists to go along with two goals.

However, it was the duo of Jamison and McDonald that sparked just enough offense to squeak past the Lancers Saturday.

"Unfortunately, we gave up too many draw controls and just had a few too many errors with fundamentals that allowed the goals and momentum to swing to UMBC," Jones said.

Jamison, who had a game-high six points, scored three goals and assisted on three more – none bigger than her assist on McDonald's goal that gave the Retrievers an 11-9 lead with under 12 minutes to play.

McDonald won a game-high eight draws to go along with her team-best four goals while Caitlin Miller won six more as part of a 17-8 margin in favor of the Retrievers.

UMBC's attacking duo were able to outduel Imani West, who turned in another strong performance in the net with 14 saves, eight coming in the second half. West's latest double digit save performance gives her seven in the Lancers' first eight contests while her 14-save Saturday was just shy of matching her season-best 15 at George Mason.

"I thought Imani West and the defense really put in a great effort, and our offense created multiple good-looking combinations," Jones said.

Longwood hits the road for the first time in March as they take on newcomer East Carolina Tuesday evening for the first time in program history. First draw is set for 6 p.m. between the Lancers and Pirates.

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