The Maritime College women's lacrosse team capped off their historic 2021 season with a 19-9 win at Purchase College on Friday night. In addition to finishing a program best 5-1 in Skyline action, the Privateers celebrated their lone graduating senior, MacKenzie Fabiani, with a short senior night ceremony before leaving campus.

"I want to thank MacKenzie for all her hard work and dedication to this program," said head coach Kerri Handras. "Her leadership on and off the field contributed to much of our success."

Maritime was looking to get off to a fast start in their last game of the season, but it was actually the Panthers who jumped ahead early with a 3-1 lead eight minutes into the game.The Privateers didn't want to give the underdogs too much early momentum and quickly tied it up behind two goals from freshman attacker Avery Jillson Neuwirth (Croton on Hudson, NY). As the first half went on, a flurry of offense from Maritime saw five different goal scorers and eventually a 11-6 lead at halftime. With nine minutes left to play, the Privateers only led by the slim margin of 6-5, but then a five-goal run spurred goals from Olivia Mattioni (Plymouth Meeting, PA), Sara Wright (East Islip, NY/East Islip), Sarah Malone (Calvert County, MD/Calvert), and two from Nicole Johnson (Farmingville, NY/Sachem East), gave Maritime the big lead they were looking for at halftime.

The Privateers continued to build off their first half momentum and eventually made it a 10-goal lead with 12 minutes left off a goal from Johnson. The Maritime defense and goalkeeper Elizabeth Pomaro (Farmingville, NY/Newfield) were able to hold on for the rest of the game and finish up with a 19-9 victory, sealing the program-best finish of 5-1 and second overall in the Skyline Conference.

Johnson put up another big day in the box score with a game-high seven points behind six goals and one assist, as well as three ground balls, two caused turnovers, and seven draw controls. Wright and Jillson Neuwirth both tallied five points offensively with four ground balls, while Wright led the game with an impressive 10 draw controls. Also highlighting the final game of the year was a season-high three goals from Mattioni. Pomaro got the win in goal with 48 minutes played, two saves, and eight goals allowed.

"I'm so proud of the team for finishing second in the conference," said Handras. "We were one game away from achieving our ultimate goal and I'm looking forward to building upon our success and contending for a conference championship next year."