BALTIMORE, MD – The Notre Dame of Maryland lacrosse team (1-0, 0-0 CSAC) showed no signs of early rust in Friday's season opener against Marian (0-4, 0-0 NACC). Junior standout Sara Morales had herself a career day scoring eight of the team's 19 goals. Two-sport athlete Jade Stewart was active all even long and proved to be a pleasant surprise for the Gators in her career debate. NDMU will start the season in the win column while Marian will drop to 0-4 on the year. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Gators took the early advantage controlling much of the early face-off. Morales broke the game open forcing a turnover in the midfield and finding the back of the net.
• A minute later, Averee Radonovich stopped the Sabres in their tracks by forcing a turnover which led to Morales' second goal. Stewart was credited with the first of two assists in the day.
• The freshman volleyball outside hitter wasted no time getting her first career score on the field. After a long fight for possession, Stewart extended the Gators lead to 3-0 with over 8:53 to play.
• Morales got the hat-trick early in the first with her third goal coming at the halfway point. 
• Up 4-0, senior transfer Brooke Siebert got in on the action on a nice feed around the arc from Morales.
• The combination of Siebert and Morales in the middle allowed the Gators to dominate time of possessions for much of the contest. Morales ended the first period with her fourth score giving NDMU a 6-0 lead to end the first. 
• Notre Dame's offense in the second period fell on Stewart's shoulders as the freshman added two more scores to seize her first career hat-trick. 
• In the second, the Sabres saw a better push offensively as a unit. Sarah Generoso saw six shots in the period but was able to limit Marian to just two scores.
• The third period was all Gators. NDMU tallied eight goals on 11 shot attempts. 
• Stewart added four more to her total, doubling the hat-trick count. Morales was in rhythm in the third and had her fingerprint on every Gator attack. She doubled her hat-trick count adding three goals along with striking a beautiful feed to Siebert for her second score. 
• Notre Dame took a 16-4 lead into the fourth with Morales needing just one goal to surpass her career-best. Her 8th goal came with just under 12 minutes remaining in relegation. 
• Siebert found the back of the goal twice in the final period to end the evening with four scores. 

OF NOTE

• This marks the first time ever meeting between the two sides. 
• Morales' 8-goal performance is her second-best scoring outing since scoring seven against Keystone (3/27). She ended the game with 10 points, two assists, six ground balls and four caused turnovers.
• Stewart compiled nine points, 11 ground balls and six caused turnovers. 
• Siebert ended the day with four points and 10 ground balls.
• On the defensive end, Generoso corralled seven saves and Radonovich added three caused turnovers. 
• The Gators outshot the Sabres 33-18 and assisted on five of 19 goals. 

UP NEXT
Notre Dame (Md.) will visit Bryn Mawr on Saturday at 4 p.m. Watch and follow live stats at Notredamegators.com. Follow the lacrosse program on Twitter and Instagram (@NDMGatorSports) and catch all things Gators on the Gators Network.