The Maritime College women's lacrosse team is ready to begin a new era under first-year head coach Alyssa Guido in 2019 and hope to see major improvements this spring behind a strong core of returners and promising newcomers. 

Last season, the Privateers finished with a 3-9 overall record and 1-6 in Skyline play, however, with three losses by five or less goals, they hope to turn those close games into wins in 2019. Maritime lost to both Massachusetts Maritime and Purchase College by just one goal a season ago, and with both teams on the schedule this spring, the Privateers hope to avenge those losses.

"Everybody has shown great effort and competitiveness this preseason and I can't wait to watch that translate into our regular season games," said head coach Alyssa Guido. "We know we are better than our record showed last year and you can see that they all want to go out and prove it this spring."

Maritime returns its top seven goal scorers from 2019 and believe that returning the majority of their offense, will give them a leg up to start the spring. Krista Deleva (Sound Beach, N.Y./Miller Place) led the Privateers with 50 goals and 21 assists for 71 points, while Catherine Pfundstein (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) and Sara Wright (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) followed with 38 and 27 goals, respectively. Rounding the strong group of returning offense is Ciara Murphy (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River), Courtney Salatto (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip), Lilianna Di Gesu (Pompton Lakes, N.J./Pompton Lakes), and Anna Smith (Sayre, Pa./Waverly). 

"Not many teams can say they return their top-seven goal scorers from the previous season and I think that definitely gives an advantage early in the season," said Guido. "I've been impressed with their leadership and work ethic. I think the newcomers have fed off of that well and are eager to start contributing."

The 2019 roster boats five freshmen as well as a few other new faces to the team. Jilliana Melford (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman), Victoria Machado (North Babylon, NY/North Babylon), Katherine Buser (Babylon, NY/Babylon), Rachel Peterson (Latham, NY/Albany Academy), and Claudia Zieba (Lindenhurst, NY/Copiague) round out the freshmen class. Emily Tirado (Bayport, NY/Bayport Blue Point), MacKenzie Fabiani (Bayport, NY/Bay), Ojaira Suero (Bronx, NY/Urban Assembly), and Miller Condrack (Siesta Key, FL/Out the Door Academy) are also new faces to the roster this spring. 

Defensively, the Privateers also return their top goalkeeper from last season in Esmeralda Hernandez (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington). Hernandez started 10 games for Maritime in 2018 and tallied 93 saves with a .421 save percentage. 

The Privateers kick off their 2019 season on Wednesday, Feb. 27 against Manhattanville College at 4 p.m. Following the season opener, Maritime will travel to Massachusetts Maritime for the Maritime Cup on March 9 and 10.