ALBANY, NY – The Alfred University women's lacrosse team opened Empire 8 competition with a 13-7 loss to Russell Sage College on Saturday afternoon from ACP Stadium.

The Saxons (2-5, 0-1 Empire 8) picked up 19 ground balls, while forcing the Gators (4-5, 1-0 Empire 8) to 25 turnovers.

Amelia Booth (Staatsburg, FDR) led the Saxons with a team-high three goals across four shots on goal. Hailey Stroh (Houghton, NY/Homeschool) finished with three points from two goals and an assist. Abigail Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) stuffed the box score with two goals, three caused turnovers, and two ground balls. Alyssa Piechota (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) recorded 16 saves for AU.

"We showed up with a short-handed roster and we were in the game the entire time," Head Coach Johanna McCormick said. "Several players played outside their assigned positions. Today, we pushed ourselves outside of our comfort zone. With a healthy team, there is no stopping us. As a coaching staff, we couldn't be prouder of the team and their endurance is a tribute to their dedication to training and their belief in the team."

Russell Sage got off to a quick start after scoring three consecutive goals in the early moments of the first quarter. Booth found an opening to get the Saxons on the scoreboard. Two additional goals from the Gators had Alfred University trailing 5-1 at the end of the first quarter. Russell Sage scored three goals to begin the second quarter before Call scored during a man-up situation. At the break, the Saxons still trailed, 8-2.

Coming out of halftime, Booth scored back-to-back goals in the span of two minutes to minimize the deficit for Alfred. An additional goal from Call had AU behind 8-5 entering the fourth quarter. Two goals from Stroh were answered by five goals from the Gators, as the Saxons could not complete the comeback.

"Getting our players healthy is our goal right now," McCormick said. "We will focus on getting more players involved in the offense."

Alfred University will look to turn things around when they next return home to host Nazareth College on Wednesday at 4:00 PM.