PURCHASE, N.Y. - The Purchase College men's lacrosse team was defeated in its season opener Friday afternoon, falling by the score of 23-4 to Farmingdale State College in a Skyline Conference battle.

While the result was certainly not what the team was looking for, the day was still enjoyable for the Panthers, as they played their first contest in 373 days due to COVID-19.

During warmups, you could tell the players and coaches on each side were buzzing with excitement to get back at it. Once the contest began though, it was the Rams all the way.

The guests jumped out to an 11-0 first quarter lead, before pushing it to 17-1 at halftime. The Panthers' lone first-half goal came on a brilliant individual effort from Joe Ely (SO/North Salem, NY) with under a minute to go.

However, following the halftime break, Purchase started to gain its form a bit with goals from Connor Schwenker (SO/Westhampton Beach, NY), Brendan Johnson (SR/White Plains, NY) and Tom Goldman (SO/Palisades, NY), as the two squads played a much tighter second half.

On the day, Farmingdale (1-0) won the all-important categories of face offs, ground balls and clears. Individually, Terrance Haggerty (SR/Centerport, NY) finished with nine points (6g, 3a) for the Rams.

For the Panthers (0-1), Johnson added an assist to go with his goal, while Ben Erkan (SR/Bellport, NY) recorded three ground balls and eight shots. In goal, Eamon McGee (SR/White Plains, NY) did all he could against Farmingdale's onslaught, collecting six saves in the loss.

Up next for the Panthers is a road matchup with Mount Saint Mary College on March 26th at 6 p.m. You can follow along right here with Live Stats.