Newburgh, N.Y. – Hosting a game in the Skyline Conference Championship for the first time in program history, the Mount Saint Mary College Women's Lacrosse team scored its first ever win in the event with a 16-14 come-from-behind victory over fifth seeded Sage on Tuesday. Kayla Gilligan (Amityville, N.Y.) scored five times in the win with Katie Gattoni (Old Tappan, N.Y.) totaling eight points.
 
Mount Saint Mary jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the early going on Tuesday following a three goal run in just under three minutes. Mikaela Rios (Mastic, N.Y.) scored at 24:52 to tie the score at 2-2 before Gattoni scored consecutive goals just over 90 seconds apart to push the Knights ahead by two.
 
Sage got even at 4-4 with 14:08 left before halftime on a goal from Adriana Spucches before the Mount retook a two goal advantage on goals from Gilligan and Christina Ryan (Franklin Square, N.Y.) in the late stages of the first half.
 
Trailing 6-4 with 8:56 left before halftime, the Gators ripped off three straight goals heading into the intermission to hold a 7-6 lead after 30 minutes of play. Spucches scored with 1:59 left in the first half with Sage down a player to close out the scoring in the opening stanza.
 
Sage held the edge in shots 16-14 at halftime and doubled up the Knights in draw controls 10-5. Mount Saint Mary finished the first half with the advantage in groundballs 11-8 and got four saves from sophomore Amanda Picillo (Valley Stream, N.Y.).
 
The Gators came out of the intermission and buried the first three goals of the second half to open a 10-7 lead on an Anne Risler man-down goal with 24:47 left in regulation. The two teams traded the next four goals, before the Mount rallied to take the lead with a seven goal run.
 
Gattoni got the game tied at 12-12 with 18:54 left I regulation before Gilligan scored three of the Mount's next four goals. The eventual game winning goal came at the 7:09 mark of the second half off a feed from Gattoni.
 
Gilligan scored five times in the win, including her second game winning goal of the season. Gattoni wrapped up the win with six goals and two assists to go along with seven draw controls.
 
Ryan scored three times for Mount Saint Mary and Rios closed a big game with two goals and three assists. Amanda Clemens (Baldwin, N.Y.) anchored the defense for the Mount with four groundballs and four caused turnovers.
 
Sage was led by four goals from Monica Koralus who added three groundballs and five draw controls. Nicole Maher won 10 draw controls for the Gators to go along with five points, three caused turnovers and three groundballs.
 
Picillo was steady in goal for the Knights and picked up the win with 11 saves. She reached double-figures in stops for the fifth time this season and added three groundballs and a pair of caused turnovers.  
 
Overall, Sage finished the game with a 38-29 advantage in shots and a 25-21 edge in shots on goal. Groundballs were even in the game at 19-19, while the Gators held the advantage in draw controls 21-11.
 
Tuesday's win evens the Mount's overall record at 7-7. The Knights will travel to Farmingdale State on Thursday to take on the top-seeded Rams. Opening Draw is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
 
Game Notes: The Mount is 1-5 all-time in the Skyline Conference Championship…Tuesday's game was the first home game in the conference championship in program history…The Knights beat Sage in two meetings in 2017 by a combined total of 31-24.