THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – The Maritime Men's Soccer team was led by freshman goalkeeper
Michael Rodriguez (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) with a career-best 17 saves, but it wasn't enough as the team fell to the Old Westbury Panthers on Saturday afternoon by the score of 2-1.
Rodriguez was the story of the matchup, playing all 90 minutes in goal and making several acrobatic highlight-reel caliber saves, as he more than doubled his previous career-high in saves with his 17 on Saturday.
Junior
Harry Colucci (Port Jefferson, N.Y./Earl L. Vandenmeulen) got the lone Privateer goal in the 78th minute off a long-range throw-in from freshman
Justin Forrest (Lusby, Md./Patuxent) to tie the game late in the second half.
In a continuation of last year's matchup with the Panthers, the first half was a defensive battle as both sides were unable to score. Both teams had several key chances, with Old Westbury outshooting Maritime by a 12-4 margin in the opening 45 minutes.
In the second half, Old Westbury controlled the early tempo of the period and were first on the scoreboard as the Panthers scored in the 55th minute of play. Just over four-minutes later, Rodriguez was called on to make a pair of athletic saves moving from post to post after the rebound from the initial shot landed right at the feet of the attacking Panthers.
The game remained at 1-0 in favor of Old Westbury into the final 15 minutes of play, Maritime gained momentum as sophomore
Parker Gallt (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) sent an bicycle kick sailing just over the crossbar after a throw-in into the box.
After Maritime got another throw in, Forrest threw from the right sideline toward the left post and rattled around as Colucci got a head on the ball that bounced off the goalkeeper's hands, off the inside of the crossbar before finally crossing the line to tie the game at one apiece.
Following the Maritime goal, Old Westbury returned fire and picked up the pace with a pair of shots and a few corner kick opportunities. In the 85th minute, the Panthers used the post as an added weapon as a shot from Old Westbury ricocheted off the right post and into the goal to put the road team back on top by a 2-1 score.
Maritime was unable to get another shot off in the waning minutes as time expired with the Panthers escaping with the 2-1 victory.
Final shots saw Old Westbury take 28, to Maritime's eight. Corner kicker were also in favor of the Panthers at a 9-2 advantage, Old Westbury was also called offsides once.
Maritime (4-5-0, 1-2-0 Skyline) will look to regroup with a non-conference game on Monday evening, when the Privateers play host to the Berkeley (N.Y.) Knights for a 7:30 p.m. start on Reinhart Field.
Old Westbury (2-2-4, 1-0-1 Skyline) will also play a non-conference matchup on Monday afternoon, as the Panthers will play host to the Medgar Evers Cougars at 4 p.m. from Panther Park on Long Island.
