BUZZARDS BAY, Mass – The Buccaneers and Maine Maritime Academy Mariners opened the 2019 Maritime Classic on Friday night inside Clean Harbors Stadium. What was a cold night in terms of weather was a warm night for the Buccaneer attack as the Bucs sank the Mariners 16-2 to improve to 1-1 on the season.

Buccaneer sophomore attacking midfielder Anna Deely (Marstons Mills, Mass) led all scorers on the night with six goals. Deely scored got off 10 shots in the game and hit the target nine times, including the six that found the back of the net. She also won six draw controls in the game, the most of any player. Her sixth draw control in the game was her 100^th career draw control and is now ranked second all-time in Buccaneers women's lacrosse history in the category. Sophomore attacker Casey Sullivan (Sagamore Beach, Mass) scored five goals of her own and assisted on another. Sullivan scored those goals on seven shots, six of which were on target. Senior captain Erica Overstreet (Bridgewater, Mass) and freshman attacker Alyssa Blumenthal (Braintree, Mass) each got on the board twice in the game. Blumenthal also assisted on two goals, Overstreet tallied one assist. Joining the goal party with one goal on one shot was junior Heather Seggelin (Sharon, Mass) who score with under 30 seconds remaining in the game. Offensively, the Bucs rattled off 32 shots, 25 on goal. Junior Cammi Balentine (Haverhill, Mass) was big defensively for the hosts, causing a game high four turnovers. The Buccaneers in total caused 12 turnovers. Freshman goalie Laura Kleber (Westport, Mass) picked up her first collegiate victory saving five of the seven shots she faced.

The Mariners got their two goals, both unassisted, from junior attacker Madison Savary (Bath, Maine) and sophomore attacker Olivia Le Blanc (Conifer, Colo). The Mariner offense totaled 11 goals, seven of which were on target. Freshman goalie Sydney Cole (Westbrook, Maine) faced 25 shots in the game, saving nine of them.

The Buccaneers allowed one goal in each half of the game, scoring nine in the first half themselves, adding seven more in the second half. Mass Maritime led the game in all categories, including winning 12 of 19 draw controls, and scored six goals on seven free positions shots in the game.

In the first half, the Bucs took a three-goal lead over the Mariners seven minutes in to the game. All of the goals were scored from free position shots. With 10 minutes gone in the first, Maine scored their first goal to cut the lead to two goals but, from there the Buccaneers scored six unanswered to finish out the first half, highlighted by Sullivan and Blumenthal goals that were scored less than ten second apart.

The second half started much like the first half with the Bucs scoring three goals to bring their lead to 11, including a man-down goal scored by Sullivan. Maine then got a goal from Le Blanc with 15 minutes left in regulation to bring the score to 12-2. The Bucs would score four more goals, including a man-up goal from Deely with 7:30 to play. Seggelin capped off the scoring with just under 30 seconds to play on a free position shot sealing the 16-2 victory for the Buccaneers, their first of the season.

Next up for the Buccaneers is a match-up with SUNY Maritime on Sunday morning at 10am. The Mariners will play SUNY at 3:30pm on Saturday at Clean Harbors Stadium.