NEWBURGH, N.Y. – After falling behind, 6-0, early on in the first quarter, the Mount Saint Mary College men's lacrosse team (4-8, 1-2 Skyline) made a valiant effort to come back and defeat Maritime College (6-6, 2-2 Skyline), 12-11, Wednesday evening at Kaplan Field. The win represents the Knights' first Skyline Conference victory of the season.
Maritime took a 6-0 lead in the first 10:19 of the game, led by a pair of scores by Ian Danahy. The Knights finally got on the board with 3:16 left in the opening quarter when freshman attackman
Tristan Earle (Milford, Pa.) fired one home off a feed from freshman midfielder
Dylan De Meo (Franklin Square, N.Y.). Freshman midfielder
Danny Kugler (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) sniped one past Maritime's keeper with 57 seconds left in the first frame to cut the deficit to 6-2.
The Knights kept the momentum rolling when De Meo scored twice in 67 seconds to get the Knights within a pair. Paul Grubb ended the Knights' four-goal run and put the Knights up, 7-4, with 10:30 left in the half. With a man in the penalty box for the Knights, senior midfielder
David Hobbs (Baldwin, N.Y.) managed to take one all the way down the field and score a man-down goal to get back within two. Julius Diaz made it a three-goal lead for the Privateers once again just 43 seconds later. Kugler fired another one into the net with 6:36 on the clock, and then Hobbs scored again with 1:01 before the half to make it an 8-7 Maritime advantage at the break.
The Knights got on the board first in the third quarter when freshman attackman
Kenneth Gallagher (Northport, N.Y.) scored off an assist from Earle to tie the game at 8-8. Grubb then scored at the 7:44 mark to put the Privateers back up by a goal. Gallagher scored again less than two minutes later to tie the game once again, but the Privateers got the last one of the quarter when Joe Fusco scored with 4:47 to play, giving Maritime a 10-9 lead heading into the final period.
De Meo put the team on his back to start the fourth, scoring back-to-back goals to put the Knights up, 11-10, with 8:12 to play. Sophomore attackman
Joseph Rizzotti (East Meadow, N.Y.) then scored the eventual game-winner with 5:41 to play, putting the Knights up, 12-10.
Danahy made it interesting by scoring with 1:31 left to play, cutting the deficit to one. The Knights won the ensuing face-off, but immediately turned it over back to the Privateers. With 41 seconds left, senior midfielder
Henry Schof (Montgomery, N.Y.) picked up an illegal body check penalty, leaving the Knights a man down for the rest of regulation. Scott Martin tried the first shot for the Privateers, but missed wide. Julius Diaz tried his luck with 21 seconds left, but freshman goalkeeper
Christopher Doerr (Pleasantville, N.Y.) made a solid save and got the Knights the ball with the seconds ticking off. The Knights managed to keep the ball away from the Privateers in the final 20 seconds, holding on for the one-goal win.
De Meo increased his team lead in every category on Wednesday, tallying a game-high six points with four goals and a pair of assists in the Knights' win. Earle was very generous in the victory, dishing out three assists and scoring once for four points. Hobbs scored twice and helped another for three points. Freshman attackman
Sean Jennings (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) scooped up a team-high six ground balls.
Danahy totaled four points on three goals and an assist for Maritime. Diaz scored twice and helped another for three points. Matt Hayes was extremely impressive off the face-off for the Privateers, winning 19-of-27 en route to a 15 ground ball evening.
Doerr improved to 4-8 after making 18 saves on Wednesday. Brendan McNally shouldered the loss for Maritime, stopping 10 shots, but allowing 12 goals.
The Knights finished up with a very narrow 41-40 edge in shots on Wednesday, but Maritime took the edge, 29-20, in shots on goal. The Privateers racked up 51 ground balls, while the Knights picked up just 30. Maritime also won 19-of-27 face-offs.
Coming off a big win Wednesday evening, the Knights grab some much-needed momentum as they head into another tough matchup on Saturday, April 18, at Farmingdale State College. The Knights and Rams are set to face-off at 1 p.m.
Follow the Knights on Twitter at
@MSMCKnights and the men's lacrosse team at
@MSMCLacrosse
