THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – The Maritime Men's Soccer team got their year off on the right foot as the Privateers shutout the King's (NY) Lions by the score of 1-0 on Reinhart Field on Thursday evening.
 
Senior Kevin Ferreira (Centereach, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) scored Maritime's lone goal of the evening off a pass from classmate Matthew Pavek (Arnold, Md./Broadneck).
 
In goal, freshman Anthony Sblendorio (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) made his first career start and made one save on the evening as he recorded the first clean sheet during his tenure in Throggs Neck.
 
Helping Sblendorio to the victory were senior defender Kieran Donnelly (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac), junior Brett Reilly (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa), and freshman Nicholas Ciacca (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial).
 
Sophomore Parker Gallt (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) led the team with six shots, including four on-target, while juniors Matt Smith (Brightwaters, N.Y./Bay Shore) and Haryy Colucci, along with freshman Justin Forrest (Lusby, Md./Patuxent) each had two shots apiece.
 
The game started out fairly even, until the first shot of the game just 7:21 into the action as Pavek found a wide-open Ferreira in the middle of the field. The senior captain then drove the ball into the back of the net to put Maritime ahead 1-0.
 
Maritime had several key chances to add to its lead in the waning stages of the opening half, but the Privateers were unable to find out the Lion defense and went into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead.
 
After the break, Gallt had a strong chance to score off of a corner kick and headed the ball back towards the near post, but was stopped by the King's (NY) netminder. Colucci and Gallt had back-to-back chances but the Lion goalkeeper made sprawling saves to keep his side in the game.
 
In the 85th minute, the Lions had their best chance of the night as a strong shot was sent towards the upper right corner of the net and rang off the cross bar to keep Sblendorio's shutout alive. The Lions were unable to register a shot the rest of the way as the Privateers held on for the 1-0 victory.
 
Maritime outshot their opponents by a 16-4 margin, while saves were 7-1 in favor of King's (NY). The Privateers took three corner kicks and were called offsides three times, while the Lions had a pair of corner kicks on the night.
 
Maritime (1-0) will look to keep their strong start to the season going as they will host the City College of New York Beavers for an 11:00 a.m. start on Reinhart Field this Saturday.