The University of Mary Washington field hockey team dropped a 4-3 decision to visiting 17th ranked Lynchburg College in both teams' season opener on Tuesday at the battleground. The Eagles, who trailed 4-0 minutes into the second half, made a strong rally to cut the deficit to one, but came up just short at 4-3.

Lynchburg led, 2-0, at halftime, on a goal by Jordan Warrington in the opening minutes off a penalty corner feed from Allie Weir, and a score from Erin Funkhouser, unassisted, with 2:07 left in the half. The Hornets outshot Mary Washington, 17-6, with each team creating five penalty corner chances.

After Warrington netted anoth score off a corner with 30:07, Weir scored first goal of the year with 24:40 left, giving the Hornets a 4-0 advantage. UMW battled back with a field goal from sophomore Carleigh Bowler on a Florence George assist with 21:41 left. Junior Emma Jones, last year's leading scorer for UMW, then scored a pair of goals off of penalty corner sets, and both coming via assists from Erin Duffy and Jackie Tait. Goal times were 11:14 and 3:48 to go.

The second half saw UMW take charge offensively, balancing the final stats to show Lynchburg with a 22-18 shot advantage, while the Eagles had 15 penalty corners to eight for the Hornets. Lynchburg goalie Sarah Cates had five saves, while UMW's Chrissy Bowdren had 14 stops in goal. Heidi Sheehan and Nicole Conti each had a pair of defensive saves for UMW.

The Eagles will host Lebanon Valley College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., with live stats available.

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