THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – The Maritime women's lacrosse team opened up conference play on Tuesday evening, falling to the Purchase Panthers by the score of 18-17 on Reinhart Field.
 
Maritime was led by junior Catherine Pfundstein (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) with six goals on 14 shots, while fellow juniors Krista Deleva (Sound Beach, N.Y./Miller Place) and Ciara Murphy (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) had identical stat lines with five goals and two assists apiece. Freshman Sara Wright (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) had one goal and one assist, while senior Christa Case (Southington, Conn./Southington) had one helper on the afternoon.
 
Wright led the Privateers with 10 draw controls, while Pfundstein added four. Deleva and Murphy each had two draw wins, while junior Courtney Salatto (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) also had one draw win on the night. Wright also led the Privateers with four caused turnovers, while Pfundstein had three forced giveaways on the night.
 
In the ground ball game Wright led the way with five, while Pfundstein had four and Murphy had three. In goal sophomore Esmeralda Hernandez (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) had nine saves to go along with two ground balls on the afternoon.
 
Maritime stormed out of the gates with three goals as Deleva, Pfundstein and Wright all scored to give Maritime the 3-0 lead. Purchase scored next, but Maritime responded on a goal by Deleva as Murphy picked up the assist. The Panthers scored the next two to pull Purchase back within one before the Privateers got their offense rolling again.
 
Deleva scored a free-position goal to give Maritime a three-goal cushion, before Purchase netted the next two goals to pull back within one once again. The game continued to remain close through the first half, before Maritime opened up a three-goal cushion once again as Pfundstein netted a man-up goal. The Panthers closed the half with two as the teams went into the locker room with Maritime leading 10-9.
 
In the second half Pfundstein got the ball rolling again as she scored her 15th of the season off a pass from Murphy. Purchase then evened the game at 11 before making it three-straight goals for its first lead of the game at 12-11. Maritime evened the score at 12 at Murphy tallied a goal off a feed from Deleva before Purchase regained the lead at 14-12 with two unanswered goals.
 
Murphy and Deleva added back-to-back free-position goals to tie the game at 14, before Purchase took the lead once again at 15-14. Murphy tied the game off a long feed from Case with 10:57 left in the game. Purchase added a free-position goal with 9:32 left to regain a one-goal lead, before Pfundstein tied the score at 16.
 
Purchase wrestled the lead back at 17-16 with a free-position goal at 17-16 with 7:38 to go before Maritime tied the game with just over two minutes left off a feed from Deleva. Hernandez made a free-position save with 96 seconds left but the Privateers were unable to clear the field as the Panthers regained possession and scored the game-winning goal with 16 seconds left as Purchase pulled off the 18-17 win.
 
Maritime (2-3, 0-1 Skyline) will return to non-conference play on Thursday afternoon, as the team heads to Ramapo for a 4:30 p.m. start in northern New Jersey.
 
Purchase (4-0, 1-0 Skyline) heads on the road for a non-conference matchup against Albertus Magnus on Thursday afternoon with the opening draw set for 4 p.m. in New Haven, Connecticut.