TROY, N.Y. – The Sage Gators were too much for the Maritime women's lacrosse team on Friday evening, as the Privateers were taken down by the Gators, 20-8.
 
Sophomore Ciara Murphy (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) and junior Shannon Brady (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) each led the team in goals with three, while sophomore Catherine Pfundstein (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) added one goal and one assist while winning a career-high eight draw controls. Junior Gayle Woods (East Greenbush, N.Y./Columbia) found the back of the net once for Maritime.
 
Defensively, sophomore Courtney Salatto (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) led the team in caused turnovers with three, followed by Pfundstein with two and junior Abigail Granit (Forked River, N.J./Lacey Township) and Murphy who each had one. Salatto, Pfundstein, Granit, and Murphy each picked up two ground balls, while Woods, Brady, and freshman Miller Condrack (Siesta Key, Fla./Out of Door Academy) each collected one.   
 
Maritime struggled to get the offense started as Sage took command early, scoring the first two goals of the contest within the first two minutes. Pfundstein won the next draw for the Privateers who were able to score for the first time with a Murphy goal just 23 seconds later. Sage followed up with another goal before Brady scored her third of the season to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Gators. After two more Sage goals, Murphy struck again with a free position goal at the 19:06 mark. Sage went on to score the next seven goals, broken up by Pfundstein who buried a free position shot with 3:38 left in the first. A late Sage goal sent the Privateers to halftime, down 13-4.
 
Murphy scored her 13^th goal of the season to open up the second half, however the Sage offense kept rolling. Brady found the back of the net again for the Privateers, but the Gators continued to dominate, putting in five more. Maritime added two more goals in the final five minutes by Woods and Brady.
 
In goal, freshman Esmeralda Hernandez (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) had a season-high 28 saves and saw 52 shots to put together a 58.3 save percentage. Hernandez's 28 saves also set a Maritime single-game record, surpassing Nicole Rosario '07  who saved 24 shots against Mount St. Vincent on March 10, 2007.
 
As a team, Maritime won 12 draw controls and picked up 12 ground balls while also causing seven turnovers.
 
The Privateers, now 1-6 overall and 1-2 in the Skyline Conference look to bounce back on April 12^th with a 7:00 P.M. conference match at Purchase College.
 
Sage is now 3-6 overall and 2-2 in Skyline action and will next face non-conference opponent Elms College.