Emmitsburg, Md. (March 29, 2015) –  In the final non-conference tune-up before Northeast Conference play gets underway, the Mount St. Mary's women's lacrosse team dropped a 10-7 decision to visiting Columbia on Sunday afternoon at Waldron Family Stadium despite a strong second half. Marley Heller (Baltimore, Md.) and Erin Seipp (Towson, Md.) paced the Mount's offense with two goals apiece.

Mount St. Mary's (1-8) outscored Columbia (4-5) by a 4-3 margin in the second half, but it was not enough to overcome a 7-3 halftime deficit.

"I think we played a better second half today, and we are proud of that," Mount St. Mary's Head Coach Lauren Schwarzmann said following the game. "Our shots weren't the best, and we definitely didn't capitalize on every opportunity. I think our defense played pretty well for a majority of the game especially against their key players. At the end of it, we just couldn't cut that deficit and unfortunately, the score showed that."

The visiting Lions tallied the game's first three goals to sprint out to a 3-0 lead in the opening 15 minutes. Caroline Joy, who led all scorers with three on the day, registered Columbia's second and third goals during the early run.

The Mount was able to bounce back with two goals in a 13 second span to trim the deficit to 3-2 with 14:14 left in the first half. Freshman Nicole Lantuh (Bethesda, Md.) set up the first goal on a perfect feed to Heller alone in front of the cage. Lantuh controlled the ensuing draw, worked down the field and assisted on a Megan Gluck (South Riding, Va.) goal on another pass from behind the cage.

After Jesse Ambrose scored to make it 4-2 in favor of Columbia with 12:41 remaining, Seipp got the Mount back on the board with the first of her two free position goals with 6:31 showing on the first half clock.

The Lions reeled off three-consecutive goals in the final five minutes of the half to take a 7-3 lead into the locker rooms, then concluded a 6-0 run with the first three goals of the second half for a 10-3 advantage.

Seipp's free position with 13:01 remaining stopped Columbia's run for a 10-4 Mount deficit. Less than five minutes later, a goal off the stick of Kelly Maloney (Ellicott City, Md.) put the Mount within five at 10-5.

The Mountaineers kept up the offensive pressure when Molly Morris (Silver Spring, Md.) ripped a shot to the upper left hand corner of the goal with 4:53 left. Heller notched her first career multi-goal game with a strike off a feed from Maloney with 4:19 remaining, but that was as close as the Mount would get the rest of the way.

The Mount outshot Columbia, 22-19, including a 12-6 margin over the final 30 minutes. In goal, Kelsey Gedin turned away 10 shots for the Lions, while Steph Rurkowski (Manlius, N.Y.) made five saves in the cage for the Mountaineers.

Helping the Mount win the draw controls battle on the day by a 10-9 total, Melissa Cox (Bel Air, Md.) finished with a team-best three draw controls to go with three ground balls.

In addition to Joy's hat trick, Sara Ruzzi and Sarah Greenberg scored two goals apiece to aid Columbia's offensive efforts.

The Mount will open Northeast Conference play on Friday, April 3, with a 3 p.m. home game versus Wagner.