First-year Claudia Barbera netted a hat trick, scoring three of the St. Lawrence University women's lacrosse team's four goals, but SUNY Geneseo topped the Saints 17-4 in the Saints' 2019 season opener on Saturday afternoon in Geneseo, New York.

Barbera led the Saints with three goals on eight shots and picked up four ground balls, while Hannah Drechsel scored one goal and added two assists for three points, picked up two ground balls and won two draw controls. Annie Wilson caused two turnovers, while Isabel Silvia won a team-best five draw controls.

SUNY Geneseo opened play with nine straight goals, scoring seven goals in the opening 15 minutes of play. Barbera netted an unassisted goal for her first career goal and first of the game at 7:32 of the first half. Hannah Marafioti scored her third of the game for the Knights just before halftime, giving SUNY Geneseo a 10-1 lead.

Marafioti opened the second half with her fourth of the game. Barbera added her second just before the 20 minute mark and Drechsel scored her first collegiate goal just over two and a half minutes later. Barbera added one more before the Knights sealed the win with another six goals.

"Today most of our first years played and I thought really stepped up to the challenge," said head coach Hannah Corkery Collins. "This is just a blip in our process. We are looking forward to Oswego and moving forward as a team. I know we will find a lot of success this season and we're all looking forward to it."
 
Marafioti led SUNY Geneseo with four goals and two assists for six points, while Tesa Doody recorded three goals and Lindsay Hernady added two goals and an assists for three points. Megan Henderson and Mallory Max each added two goals, while Nicole Voci scored one goal and assisted on four others and three other members of the Knights' squad netted one goal. Marafioti and Max caused three turnovers, while Max picked up a team-best five ground balls.
 
Saints' goalkeeper Olga Lukas made 13 saves, while Tess McFadden made 10 for the Knights.
 
St. Lawrence fell to 0-1 on the season, while SUNY Geneseo improved to 2-0.
 
The Saints will travel to Oswego to take on the Lakers on Wednesday, March 13 at 4 p.m.