PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Led by a pair of five-goal scorers, the No. 14 Pace University women's lacrosse team picked up the win in their first conference game of the season, defeating No. 22 Merrimack College 16-10 on Saturday afternoon. The victory improves the Setters' overall record to 4-1.

Inside the Numbers
*Casey Gelderman (Farmingville, NY/Sachem High School East) and Emma Rafferty (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) piloted the Pace attack, scoring five goals each. For the senior Gelderman, her five tallies on the day pushes her season total to a team-leading 17. In addition to her new career-high of five goals, Rafferty also picked up an assist for a six-point day.
 
*Courtney Pabst (East Patchogue, NY/Bellport) also found the back of the net four times for the Setters. The junior has now scored nine goals over Pace's last two contests. Pabst also earned a pair of assists to match Rafferty's team-leading six points on the day.

*Emily Ankabrandt (Scotia, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) and Angela Kelly (Garnerville, NY/North Rockland) both added a goal to round out the Pace scoring effort.

*Despite being kept off the goal column for the first time this season, Stephanie Chadnick (Brewster, NY/Brewster) played a vital role in the Pace offense with a season-high three assists.

*Jillian Oross (Bay Shore, NY/Bay Shore) picked up her fifth win of the year in net, making eight saves in a full 60-minute effort.

*Gelderman led the team in ground balls (four) and draw controls (six), and was tied with Chadnick and Najmah James (Danbury, CT/Danbury) for team-highs in caused turnovers (three).

*Pace outshot Merrimack 34-23 in the contest.

How it Happened
It did not take long for action to get underway, as three goals were scored in the opening two and a half minutes. Gelderman fired the opening salvo a minute and a half into the game. After Merrimack drew even 30 seconds later off an Amber Feminella score, Rafferty put Pace back ahead with her first goal of the day. Merrimack would knot things up at 2-2 another minute and a half later.
 
The Setters would score four of the next five goals to claim a 6-3 lead with 16:02 on the clock. The Warriors pulled to within one with a pair of goals from Haley Bartlett separated by 14 seconds, but the Blue and Gold would regain some distance over the closing 15 minutes. The Setters ended the half with three unanswered goals, two courtesy of Pabst, to take a 9-5 advantage into the half.

Merrimack began their comeback effort quickly, scoring the second half's opening goal 31 ticks into the period. After Rafferty reclaimed the four-goal advantage for the Setters, the Warriors
responded with goals from Bartlett and Feminella to narrow the Pace lead to 10-8, seven minutes in. Rafferty would connect on her final goal of the day at the 20:28 mark, but Merrimack continued to respond with scores of their own to keep the Pace lead at two with under 19 minutes in regulation.

The Setters were able to ultimately swing momentum in their favor for the remainder of the game off of a Gelderman goal at 17:57. The tally was the first of three straight by Gelderman, who was able to extend the Pace lead to 14-10 with less than 10 minutes on the clock. Pabst would add the final two scores for the Blue and Gold, while the Pace backline held the Warriors scoreless over the final 11 minutes to pick up the 16-10 win.

Up Next
The Setters return to action on Tuesday night to host Northeast-10 Conference opponent, Southern Connecticut State University, at 6 p.m.