The St. John Fisher College women's basketball team dropped its season opener Tuesday night, with a 69-40 loss to the visiting Medaille College Mavericks.  Fisher takes its first blemish, falling to 0-1 to start the 2011-12 season.  Medaille, who have played in the NCAA Championships five of the last six years, improve to 1-0. 
 
The Mavericks, also playing in their first game of the season, controlled the tempo from the opening tip-off, and built a 15-point advantage over the first 6:29 of the game, while also keeping the Cardinals off of the scoreboard.
 
Fisher senior Meghan Soja got the Cardinals on the board with a free throw, but the team was unable to spark any comeback in the first half. 
 
The home team was only able to get within nine points, when the score was 16-7 eight minutes into the stanza.  After the first 20, Medaille took a commanding 32-point lead into the locker room with a 49-17 advantage.
 
The second half played out the same way, with Medaille holding onto its lead for the 29-point victory.
 
Soja led the Cardinals, finishing with 7 points and 9 rebounds in the contest.  Freshman point guard Portia Velasco added 3 assists and 8 points, while Camaryn Buckner grabbed 7 boards, all on the defensive end.
 
Fisher will return to action at 5 p.m. on Saturday when it travels to Marywood University for the Cardinals first road test of the season.