Purchase, NY (March 17, 2018) – Purchase men's lacrosse showed glimpses of its future while honoring SUNY's past in the program's Skyline Conference opener Saturday.

The Panthers, wearing their alternate throwback "SUNY" jerseys – a mesh uniform popular in the 1980s – had flashes of brilliance in an 18-5 loss to undefeated SUNY Maritime. Purchase's defense may have given up the high-goal total, but kept pace early with the Privateers, a program that could easily compete for the league crown this year.

Make no mistake: The Panthers have made plenty of strides thus far in the second year as a varsity sport. And while those great SUNY teams of the 1980s might not have been an option as a sport at Purchase back then, the Panthers of today will be for the present and future. Purchase has already won two games this season and showed some fight today against Maritime, falling to 2-3 overall, including 0-1 in the league. The Privateers are now 5-0 and 1-0, respectively.

The Privateers were paced by Danny Connell and his game-best seven goals. Nick Pellegrino added four in the win. The duo combined for 11 of the team's 18, with two others scoring twice and three recording single goals.

The Panthers were led by Dylan Gethicker (JR/Lime Lake, NY) and James Felix (JR/Scarsdale, NY). Gethicker recorded a hat trick, scoring three second-half goals. Felix scored the host's first two goals. Ben Erkan (FR/Bellport, NY) added a game-best eight ground balls in the loss.