FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – Freshman Kelly Campbell registered her fifth game this season with at least three goals on Wednesday, but the sixth-seeded Marymount (Va.) University women's lacrosse team came up just short of the upset of third-seeded and No. 14 University of Mary Washington in the first round of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament. 

The Saints took early command of the game, pushing a 3-1 advantage in the opening 14 minutes. Although the Eagles won the initial draw, freshman goalkeeper Holly Reik, who registered eight saves for the game, sparked the momentum with her first turn away on UMW's first offensive possession. A quick clear and transition, the play was eventually called dead on the Saints' first possession to set up Campbell for a free-position attempt. Without hesitation, the freshman made her way down the eight-meter fan to capitalize on the opportunity for the 1-0 lead. 

The Eagles answered rather quickly with their first goal of the game, but Marymount didn't back down to the ranked squad. By the 19:09 mark, Campbell tacked on her second of the game to put the Saints back out ahead. Several minutes later, MU pushed its biggest lead of the contest when freshman Jessica Crew found senior Stephanie Keane for another finish to push the 3-1 advantage. 

The Saints' defense continued to work hard in the backfield, but the Eagles would still manage to hit a four-goal stretch in the closing 15 minutes of the first half to take a 5-3 lead into the break. 

The backfield of MU held strong after the restart, seeing Reik pull in another save and the defense force an Eagle turnover. Looking to get back into the game, the offense put use to the defensive surge when Campbell capped off her hat trick by the 21:34 mark on an unassisted finish to cut the deficit to one, 5-4. 

Unfortunately, the Saints would see the score spread back out on back-to-back Eagle goals. Crew halted the stretch with an unassisted finish of her own, but that's as close as MU got the rest of the contest. 

Mary Washington added one more goal in the closing minutes on a man-up opportunity to take the 8-5 decision and advance to the league semifinals.

The appearance in the conference tournament was the 16th in program history and the first under Head Coach Kate Athing.