St. Lawrence University senior co-captain Brigid Hurley scored a game-high five goals, while first-year student Michaela Maybee added a hat trick as the Saints' women's lacrosse team defeated Skidmore 15-10 at Hall-Leet Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The victory moves St. Lawrence to 1-1 in the conference and 5-4 overall, while the Thoroughbreds fall to 1-6 (0-2). The Saints closed with the advantages in shots (34-25), ground balls (20-17) and draw controls (15-11).

"I thought we gave another good effort today and took advantage of our opportunities," said St. Lawrence head coach Jodi Canfield. "Skidmore is a feisty team that really tested us, but I'm happy with the way we responded when the game tightened in the second half.

Skidmore was led offensively by Lexi Melville, who finished with a hat trick for the Thoroughbreds, while Maggie Murphy and Emma Harris each scored two.

The two teams exchanged goals in the early minutes before St. Lawrence built a 5-2 lead on a three-goal run. Rookie Hannah Calvelli put the Saints on top 3-2, while senior co-captain Holly Noyes followed with consecutive goals only 47 seconds apart for the 5-2 margin. Skidmore remained within striking distance thanks to goals from Peggy Healy and Spencer Morgan on free position shots, but goals by Hurley and Carly VanTassel in the final 2:45 of the half put the Scarlet and Brown up 9-5 at intermission.

Skidmore would mount its comeback in the early stages of the second half. After Melville and Hurley exchanged goals, the Thoroughbreds raced to within one at 10-9 thanks to a three-goal run. The visitors' offense was generated by Harris, Murphy and Melville, who capped the run with 18:43 to play on a man-up goal.

Maybee would bail the Saints out, though, as her quickness in the offensive end led to back-to-back free position goals only 1:08 apart for a 12-9 St. Lawrence lead with 8:09 remaining. Though Hurley and Harris would exchange tallies, Hurley and rookie Caroline Bailey put the game out of reach with insurance goals en route to the 15-10 victory.

Senior co-captains Stephanie O'Rourke and Joey Kelley also added goals for St. Lawrence, while Hurley, Noyes and VanTassel had assists. Spencer Morgan had a game-high five draw controls for Skidmore, while the home team was led by Noyes with four.

Both goaltenders had solid outings, with sophomore Adden Cunningham earning the win in net for St. Lawrence behind a nine-save performance. Shelby Witheford suffered the loss despite making 11 stops.

The Saints will be in action again on Tuesday, April 2 when they host North Country rival Clarkson University at 4:00pm. Skidmore will visit Rensselaer next Friday, April 5.