Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team enters the final week of the regular season with a chance to clinch its third straight berth into the Skyline Conference Championship. The Knights will travel to the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Wednesday in a rematch of the 2018 Skyline Championship Final before hosting league frontrunner Maritime on Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale.
 
At A Glance: The Knights enter the final week of the regular season at 5-9 overall and 2-2 in conference play and coming off a heartbreaking 8-7 road loss at St. Joseph's-L.I. on Thursday. Junior Billy Holland (Pearl River, N.Y.) totaled three points for the Knights, while classmate Eli Laikin (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) made 12 saves in goal.
 
Holland leads the Mount in goals through 14 games, tallying 23 times to go along with eight assists for 31 points. Fellow junior Ryan Maraio (Staten Island, N.Y.) leads the way in assists with 20 and points with 39, with Thomas Bahmer III (East Brunswick, N.J.) and Vinny Vaccaro (Floral Park, N.Y.) adding 12 and 10 markers, respectively. Freshman Brian Esposito (Floral Park, N.Y.) has totaled 20 points for the Knights, scoring eight times and helping on 12 other goals.
 
The defensive corps is led by sophomore Matthew Martino (Watertown, Conn.) and senior Peter Beidl (Clifton Park, N.Y.). Martino paces the team in groundballs with 58 and caused turnovers with 42, while Beidl has forced 16 turnovers and collected 31 groundballs. Freshman Chris Maggio (Valley Stream, N.Y.) has caused 15 miscues for the Knights and adds 34 groundballs.
 
The Mount has used a pair of players on face-offs in 2019, with junior Marco Spagnuolo (Staten Island, N.Y.) going 87-for-190 with 34 groundballs and freshman Dennis Dowd (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) posting a 58-for-137 mark with 16 groundballs.
 
Laikin has seen the bulk of action in goal for the Mount, playing 735:35 of a possible 847:51. He has made 136 saves on the season and holds an 11.58 goals against average and a .489 save percentage. Laikin ranks fourth in the conference in saves per game and ninth in the league in save percentage.
 
Mount Saint Mary enters the week ranked sixth in the conference in goals per game, fourth in assists per game and fifth in points per game. Maraio sits ninth in the conference in assists per game for the Mount, while Martino leads the league in caused turnovers per outing with an even 3.0 per contest.
 
Scouting The Mariners: USMMA enters Wednesday's tilt at 8-4 overall and 3-1 in league play. The Mariners are coming off a 15-8 win over Farmingdale State on April 18 that saw Liam Connors total seven points and Kyle Buser go 14-for-17 in face-offs.
 
USMMA features a quartet of 30 goal scorers on the season, led by 34 from Connors who adds 21 assists for 55 points. Jack Renard has helped on a team-high 27 goals and leads the team with 57 points, with Nick Roros adding 30 tallies on the season for USMMA.
 
Jason Aiello paces the squad with 23 caused turnovers on the season, while Buser has had an efficient season in face-offs, going 84-for-117 (.718) and adds a team-high 63 groundballs.
 
Brendan Kane and Shannon Byrne II have split the majority of time in goal for the Mariners with Byrne making a team-high 51 saves to go along with a .520 save percentage. Kane holds a 9.27 goals against average and has made 41 stops for the Mariners.
 
Entering the week, USMMA leads the Skyline Conference in goals per game, with Renard pacing the conference in assists per contest. Buser sits atop the conference leader board in face-off percentage and groundballs per game.
 
Previewing Maritime: The Privateers enter a Friday tilt with Farmingdale State at 10-3 overall on the season and an unbeaten 4-0 in conference play. Maritime has won its last four outings overall, including a 17-7 triumph over St. Joseph's-L.I. on April 13.
 
Maritime features six players with at least 11 goals on the season, led by 59 from Matt DeMeo who also paces the team with 73 points. Danny Connell holds the team lead with 27 assists and adds 21 goals, while Mike Leake is putting together a strong offensive season with 35 markers and 57 points.
 
Five different Privateers have caused at least 10 turnovers to date, led by 19 from Mark Buchner with Brett Trodden checking in with 13 caused turnovers and 53 groundballs. Kevin Buser has posted a 161-for-299 mark in face-offs thus far and leads the squad with 72 groundballs.
 
A trio of goalies have seen action for the Privateers this season with Justin Weigold playing 525:00 of a possible 780:00. Weigold holds a .531 save percentage and a 9.49 goals against average while stopping 94 opponent shots.
 
Entering the week, Maritime ranks second in the conference in goals per game and leads the league in assists and points per outing. DeMeo sits atop the league leaderboard in goals and points per game, while Buser ranks seventh in face-off percentage and fourth in groundballs per game.
 
What's Next: If the Knights earn the berth into the 2019 Skyline Conference Championship, play will begin with the semifinal round on May 1.