Albany, NY- The Sage Colleges' women's soccer team hosted the No. 17 nationally ranked Ducks of Stevens on Saturday afternoon in the Gators' first Empire 8 conference match. Stevens held a 1-0 lead at the break before collecting three second half goals en route to the 4-0 win. Stevens improves to 3-1-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference as the league's defending champions. Sage drops to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in the league.
Sophomore forward Gabby Saade (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro) scored her first of two goals on the day in what would be the game-winner at 13:17 on a feed from sophomore midfielder Julia Panko (Millstone Township, NJ/Notre Dame). By day's end, Saade had five points on two goals with an assist, elevating her season total to seven points (3g, 1 a).
Panko scored the first goal of the second half on across from Saade at 53:53 and assisted Saade about 10 minutes later when the pair connected at 63:45.
The final goal of the match came from junior Erin Mellett (Harriman, NY/Monroe-Woodbury) on a cross off an indirect kick from junior Olivia Butera (Havertown, PA/Haverford) at 65:29, marking her first goal of the season.
Junior goalie Emma Augustine (Wawarsing, NY/Ellenville) made nine saves in the action, while Steven's senior starter Lindsey Mahnken (Bayville, NJ/M.A.T.E.S.) worked 82 plus minutes with two saves and shared in the shutout win with rookie Erika McCarthy (Bennington, VT/M.T. Anthony).
Next up for the Gators, they will host the Bears of SUNY-Potsdam on Tuesday, September 19 at 7 p.m. at ACP's Athletic Complex. Stevens is back in action on September 20 playing at Montclair State University in a 7 p.m. non-league match-up.
