St. Pierre and Koralus star as Gators romp past MCLA, 19-5

March 23, 2016

St. Pierre and Koralus star as Gators romp past MCLA, 19-5

Russell Sage College

3-2

MCLA

0-3

Final

Russell Sage College (3-2)

MCLA (0-3)

Adams, MA–The Sage Colleges' women's lacrosse team travelled to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts for a non-conference match-up. The visiting Gators never trailed as they rolled past the MCLA Trailblazers on Wednesday at Shewcraft Field. The Gators improved to 3-2 with the win while the Trailblazers remain winless at 0-3. The 19 goals scored by Sage is the second most for a contest, while the five goals allowed in a contest is the second-fewest allowed as well.

Sage led 12-5 at the intermission and held the Trailblazers scoreless in the second half of the match.

Sage was paced by junior co-captain Monica Koralus (Verbank, NY/Millbrook) with a game-high 9 goals. She added a pair of assists and finished with 11 points. Koralus surpassed the 100 career point plateau in the action and is one of just two players in the program's history to achieve the feat. She trails Alexa Pajak as the all-time leading point and goal scorer as Pajak added 106 points on 90 goals in her two seasons with the program (2012-2013). She stands No. 2 all-time with 103 points, while ranking No. 2 now in goals (75) and No. 1 in career assists (28). On the 2016 season, Koralus has taken a commanding lead in the scoring race as she has 26 goals with seven assists and 33 points.

Sophomore midfielder Nikki Pedone (Ballston Lake, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) added 3 goals and with an assist, while senior Nicole Maher (Glen Cover, NY/Saint Dominic) had three goals as well.

In the opening half, Sage never trailed as they scored the first two goals of the game. MCLA received goals from Taylor Brewer and MacKenzie Cutler to tie it up. From there, the Gators would take control. They would outscore MCLA 10-2 over the next 20 minutes of play to take their largest lead at 12-4 before MCLA's Cutler scored just before halftime making it 12-5 in favor of Sage.

Koralus had 6 first half goals on just 7 shots. Pedone and Maher each had two goals in the half. Sage left little doubt as to the outcome by scoring the first 7 goals of the second half and cruised from there. The Gators would outscore MCLA 7-0 in the closing half of play.

MCLA was paced by Cutler's two goals.

In goal, Sage's junior Jackie St. Pierre (Averill Park, NY/Averill Park) picked up another win and tied the program's career save mark in the action as she allowed just five goals in net and racked up five saves. She is now tied with Courtney Reed (2010-2013) as the pair both have 324 career saves. She now has eight career wins in her time in goal.

Sage will now look to tie the program's best performance as they host Bard College on March 29 at 5:30 p.m. as the contest will take place at Watervliet H.S. The mark was set in 2013 and 2014 as the teams tallied four wins those year.