NEWBURGH, N.Y. – The Maritime men's lacrosse team dropped its Skyline Conference contest against the Mount St. Mary Knights on Wednesday evening by the score of 12-11.
 
The Privateers held an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Knights answered back and outscored Maritime by a 12-5 difference in the final 49:40 of the contest.
 
Freshman Ian Danahy (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) led the team with three goals and also picked up one assist on the game while taking a game-high nine shots. Senior Paul Grubb (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun), along with freshmen Joe Fusco (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay-East Fishkill) and Julius Diaz (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport) each had two goals on the night.
 
On faceoffs, junior Matt Hayes (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin) led the way for the Privateers collecting wins in 19-of-27 attempts, while picking up a game-best 15 ground balls. Freshman Nick Pellegrino (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) was second on the team with five ground balls, while junior Jonathan Strezenec (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun), Fusco, and freshman Victor Titone (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) each had four loose ball pickups.
 
Defensively, freshman Brendan McNally (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) made 10 saves on the game and also chipped in with a pair of ground balls. Freshman Paul Lafrancesca (Nesconset, N.Y./Sachem North) was tops in caused turnovers, with the rookie recording two on the game.
 
The Privateers stormed out of the gates with Danahy collecting his first of the game off a pass from junior Peter Rooney (Long Beach, N.Y./Chaminade). Fusco then added a goal, followed by rookie Jake Burcham (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) recording his first career tally to make the score 3-0 with 8:19 left in the first period.
 
Maritime continued to roll with Diaz scoring, followed by Danahy collecting his second off a pass from Hayes, before Diaz found Pellegrino with 4:41 to go in the quarter to put Maritime ahead by six. Mount St. Mary scored twice in the final 3:16 of the opening stanza, to go to the second period trailing by four.
 
The Knights also scored the first two goals of the second quarter, but Grubb picked up his 16th goal of the season to make the score 7-4. Mount St. Mary scored a man-down goal to pull back within two, but Diaz made it a three-goal game once again with 8:12 left in the half.
 
Mount St. Mary scored twice more in the final 6:36 of the period, to go into halftime trailing by just one goal at an 8-7 score.
 
The Knights finally erased its early deficit as the home team clawed back to make the score 8-8 with 10:28 left in the third. Maritime then regained its lead as Grubb connected on an unassisted strike. Mount St. Mary scored once again to tie the game at nine.
 
In the waning minutes of the third, Fusco collected his second of the game to give Maritime a 10-9 lead, with the game heading into the final 15 minutes of regulation.
 
Mount St. Mary scored the first three goals of the period, as the Knights took their first lead of the game at 11-10 before adding an insurance goal. The 12th goal proved to be key for Mount St. Mary, as Danahy found the back of the net once more with 91 seconds left to pull Maritime within one.
 
The Knights won the ensuing faceoff, and turned the ball over shortly thereafter. An illegal body check penalty gave Maritime a prime chance, but the first Maritime chance went wide, followed by a shot that was stopped by the Mount St. Mary keeper.
 
Final stats were just as close as the score in the one-goal game, as Mount St. Mary had 41 shots to Maritime's 40. Both teams failed on six clear attempts, while each team's extra-man chances went without success. Maritime had 51 ground balls, while Mount St. Mary had 30; however the turnover battle was one-sided with the Privateers giving the ball away 22 times to Mount St. Mary's 14 giveaways.
 
Maritime (6-6, 2-2 Skyline) will face a tough task on Saturday afternoon when the Montclair State Red Hawks make their way to Reinhart Field for a 1 p.m. start in Skyline Conference play. Prior to the game, Maritime will be recognizing its seven seniors in a pre-game on-field ceremony.
 
Mount St. Mary (4-8, 1-2 Skyline) will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as the team travels to Long Island to take on Farmingdale in a key league matchup slated for 1 p.m.