THROGGS NECK, NY - The Maritime College women's lacrosse team dropped its season opener to Union College on Thursday night by a score 18-6. The high winds on Reinhart Field called for some hectic play on both sides of the ball, but the Dutchwomen were able to battle through the tough conditions to come out on top.

Senior goalkeeper Esmeralda Hernandez (Huntington, NY/Huntington) started out the game hot by picking up a couple saves early on, but Union jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead. Ten minutes into the action, the Privateers picked up their first goal of the game behind the stick of Sara Wright (East Islip, NY/East Islip), who found the back of the net off a pass from Nicole Johnson (Farmingville, NY/Sachem East). Unfortunately, Maritime couldn't keep the momentum going and Union pulled away as the first half went on. The Dutchwomen led 13-1 as the first half wound to a close, but the Privateers got the last goal of the period Krista Deleva (Sound Beach, NY/Miller Place) fed a pass to Wright who scored her second goal as time expired.

The second half of the game saw a big improvement on both ends of the ball for Maritime as they quickly cut the lead to 10 goals with Mackenzie Fabiani (Bayport, NY/Bayport Blue Point) and Deleva scoring their first goals of the game. Unfortunately, the lead was too much for the Privateers and they couldn't cut into the Union lead any further. As the game came to a close, once again Maritime found a way to find the back of the net as time expired, this time it was Fabiani who netted the final goal with time winding down.

"Union is a very good team, but we didn't play our best and we know what we need to improve on," said head coach Alyssa Guido. "It's a tough way to open the season, but it will just make us better in the long run and we are ready to get back on the field next week."

Deleva led the offense with three points on two assists and one goal, while Wright, Fabiani, and Johnson all chipped in two points. Hernandez played all 60 minutes in goal and finished with 13 saves.

The Privateers will return to action next Tuesday when they travel to Clark University for a 7 p.m. start. Following that matchup, Maritime will head to the Maritime Cup at Massachusetts Maritime on Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7.