Throggs Neck, NY – Sophomore attack Donald Toby (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) had possibly the best performance of his career scoring five goals, assisting on three and winning 21-of-23 face-offs taken, but it would be the Red Hawks of Montclair State University who stole away the victory in the final minutes during a key Knickerbocker Lacrosse Conference game Wednesday night at Maritime College. 

 

Each team had their fair share of goals in the first half, leading up to a 5-4 Red Hawk advantage at the conclusion of the second period following a goal by freshman Alfred Bachman (Montville, NJ/Mountain Lakes) with only six seconds left on the clock. Trailing 7-5 in the third period, Maritime would surmount a comeback behind the play of Toby, scoring four goals and hold onto a 9-8 lead after three.

 

The Red Hawks wouldn’t stay down for long, quickly scoring two goals to tie the game up at 10 a piece. Maritime would get several chances at the net to take the lead, but none better than Toby, who picked up a ground ball in front of the net and scorched one past the keeper to give Maritime an 11-10 advantage with 5:23 left to go in the game.

 

The Privateers seemed to have the game under control, but that was not the case in the mind of the Red Hawks who would take less than 30 seconds to tie the score at 11-11 following a goal by freshman Ed Carswell (Tabernacle, NJ/Shawnee) who sprinted up the field untouched to find the back of the net. Moments later, senior midfielder Dave Armstrong (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) scored the game winner, and Montclair would prevail following a big defensive stand that prevented the Privateers a play at the net in the final four minute of the game.

 

For the Privateers, senior attack Kevin Swift (New Market, MD/Linganore) (New Market, MD/Linganore) scored three goals and had two assists, while freshman midfielder James Buttafuoco (Williston Park, NY/Holy Trinity) (Williston Park, NY/Holy Trinity) netted the first two goals of his collegiate career. Junior goal keeper Tim O’Hara (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Ludden) got the start in net, his first start since back on March 12 against Wesley College. O’Hara showed no signs of rust after sitting out the last two games, making 17 saves after facing 29 shots on goal.

 

Junior goal keeper Tim Condron (West Paterson, NJ/St. Joseph’s) finished the game with 13 saves for the Red Hawks. Armstrong and sophomore attack Bryan Klimchak (Clark, NJ/Arthur L. Johnson) each scored four goals, Armstrong also had two assists.

 

Tonight’s game was a fierce battle between two talented programs looking to break out in this conference. Following near extinction at the conclusion of last season, Montclair State’s lacrosse program has been given a second chance on life to show why they deserve to be a top team within the Knickerbocker. Maritime’s squad has gone through an intense rebuilding process in the past year and are now rejuvenated with young, high-caliber athletes that will one day reign over the conference. There is no doubt that tonight, a new rivalry was formed and these two teams will have some interesting meetings in the years to come.

 

This game had playoff implications written all over it with the Red Hawks now concluding their conference play with a record of 5-3 with a month still to go in the season. Due to a unique situation, the Red Hawks were forced to play all their conference games in March where as the rest of the conference plays most of their conference games in April. Therefore, tonight’s game could impact how both these teams fair off at the end of the year, but the win gives Montclair a huge advantage over many other schools.

 

The loss drops Maritime to 2-4 on the year and 1-1 in the conference, now in a three-way tie for fourth place. The Privateers will have a tough task in front of them this Saturday when they host the defending conference champion, Stevens Institute of Technology. Stevens enters the game with a record of 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the conference.

 

-MARITIME-