March 28, 2003

Berkeley, Calif. - The California women's lacrosse team (8-2, 2-0, MPLL) snapped its eight-game win streak this afternoon at the hands of the Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers, 19-9, at Memorial Stadium. The 19 goals given up by the Bears is the most goals allowed since a 19-5 defeat to Virginia Tech exactly three years ago, March 28, 2000.

For the first time in four consecutive contests, the Bears tallied the first score of the game. Sophomore midfielder Erin Hafkenschiel netted the goal only 29 seconds into the action for the early 1-0 Cal lead. But the advantage was short-lived as the Retrievers rattled off five unanswered scores to take the 5-1 lead at the 8:36 mark. Junior Julianne Wu tallied the first of a team leading four goals on the afternoon to bring Cal within three goals, 5-2, with 19:13 left to play in the half. The Retrievers extended the lead to 7-2 on unassisted goals from Kelly Fiorani and Kate Worthington. Sophomore Freya Lund netted her fourth goal of the year with 11:20 to play before junior Carley Preble would find a streaking Wu for the one-timer to cut the lead to 7-4. The Retrievers outscored the Bears 3-1 in the remaining eight minutes as the teams entered the break with a 10-5 UMBC lead.

The second half started miserably for the Golden Bears, as UMBC turned the heat up, scorching starting netminder Eden Coelho for seven unanswered goals to break the game wide open. In the seven-goal stretch, Fiorani and Stephanie Allen recorded two goals apiece. After the Retrievers' Lauren Hess found the back of the net to give UMBC the 17-5 lead with 17:45 left to play, Coelho took a seat and sophomore goalkeeper Kathryn Calligaro entered the net for the third time this season. The Bears rallied behind their new goalkeeper, showing their true character by running of three unanswered scores of their own. Junior attacker Besse Garnder tallied her first goal of the year, while Wu and junior Colleen O'Mara each recorded a score to cut the Retrievers' lead to 17-8 with 10:05 to play.

UMBC shook off the California scoring run and held the Bears to one more goal the rest of the way, while chipping in two insurance goals to walk away with the relatively easy 19-9 decision.

After a stretch of five consecutive home contests, Cal hits the road to face George Washington at TBA for a neutral site matchup at MIT in Boston, Mass. The game against the Colonials represents the first of four straight road games in which the Bears will face Boston College (4/6), Ohio (4/11) and Ohio State (4/13).

BOX SCORE:
	      1      2       F
UMBC          10     9      19
California    5	     4	     9

GOALS: CAL - Julianne Wu 4, Leanne Zilioli, Erin Hafkenschiel, Freya Lund, Besse Gardner, Colleen O'Mara. UMBC - Kelly Fiorani 5, Lauren Traber 4, Stephanie Allen 3, Lauren Hess 3, Kate Worthington 2, Jennifer Kasper, Jen Dragoni.

ASSISTS: CAL - Carley Preble, Julianne Wu, Erin Hafkenschiel. UMBC - Jen Dragoni 2, Kelly Fiorani 2.

GOALKEEPING: CAL - Eden Coelho (43 minutes, 3 saves, 17 goals allowed); Kathryn Calligaro (17 minutes, 3 saves, 2 goals allowed). UMBC - Courtney Stringer (60 minutes, 11 saves, 9 goals allowed).

SHOTS: UMBC 25, CAL 22; FREE POSITION SHOTS: UMBC 8, CAL 3; GROUNDBALLS: UMBC 37, CAL 10; FOULS: UMBC 13, CAL 14; TURNOVERS: UMBC 8, CAL 12; CAUSED TURNOVERS: UMBC 6, CAL 6; DRAW CONTROLS: UMBC 13, CAL 15.