Purchase, NY (Oct. 27, 2015) – Minus its two leading scorers, Purchase dropped the regular-season finale 3-1 to Sage Tuesday night at home.

The narrow loss caps the season for Purchase, which falls one game outside of the top six postseason spots. The Panthers were without injured stars Riley Graham (JR/Red Bluff, CA) and Marykate McGee (SR/Oceanside, NY), but showed their mettle in a contest they needed to win to advance to the playoffs.

The Gators scored two, second-half goals to secure the victory in a matchup that was knotted at one-all at the break.    

Sage (14-4, 8-1 Skyline Conference), which came into the game in a three-way tie for first with Farmingdale and Mount Saint Mary, jumped on the board first. The Gators took a 1-0 lead on a Taylor Lynch strike in the opening two minutes. Samantha Trimblett assisted on the score.

Purchase (5-12-1, 3-5-1 Skyline) answered back shortly later in the 39th minute as Emily Saltman (SO/Huntington, NY) notched her eighth goal of the season. The shot hit the cross bar and bounced in. The goal was initially in question until the officials conferred and confirmed the game-tying goal, adding drama to a tightly contested game.

The Panthers, which entered the matchup in the seventh place in the conference standings, had two other potential go-ahead attempts with Saltman nearly securing her second of the game on a line-drive shot that was turned away, and Pernille Karlson (SR/Hadsund, Denmark) almost punching in a header home for the lead.

But the game stayed tied through the halftime, with each squad totaling three shots on goal and two saves apiece for the keepers through the first 45 minutes. The two teams also recorded four corners in the evenly matched opening period.

Panther keeper Briana Leon (JR/Glen Cove, NY) made some keep early stops in the second half, but Sage broke through Trimblett gave the visitors the lead in the 59th minute. Lynch would later add some cushion, scoring her second of the game. Both goals were unassisted.