THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – Despite a late comeback attempt at Reinhart Field on Saturday afternoon, the Maritime men's lacrosse team fell to the Merchant Marine Mariners in a Skyline Conference game on a cool first day of April by a 12-6 margin.  
 
Five Privateers found the back of the net in the loss as sophomore Ian Ziemski (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) led Maritime with two goals, both of which occurred in the fourth quarter. Ziemski also picked up three ground balls on the day. Joining Ziemski in the scoring category were juniors Nick Pellegrino (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East), T.J. Ragusa (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh), Julius Diaz (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport), and freshman Danny Connell (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) who each scored once. Recording the helpers were senior Kevin Izzo (Cutchogue, N.Y./Mattituck), freshman Jackson Specht (Mullica Hill, N.J./Clearview Regional), Ragusa, and Diaz.
 
Freshman Patrick McAllister (Levittown, N.Y./MacArthur) led Maritime with five ground balls, while freshman Joe Lugo (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East), senior Jack Johnson (Annandale, Va./Annandale), and junior John Piscatello each followed with four. Defensively, freshman Mark Buchner (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) and Ragusa led the team in caused turnovers with two apiece.
 
In goal, junior Brendan McNally (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) stopped 17 Mariner shots for a save percentage of 58.6%. Sophomore Justin Weigold (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) also made some nice saves in goal for Maritime, tallying three on the afternoon.
 
Pellegrino scored first for Maritime, netting his 25^th of the season from ten yards out. The Mariners answered quickly and scored four straight to gain a three-goal advantage. Ragusa added some momentum for the Privateers, aggressively tooling with his defender and found the upper left corner to cut the deficit to two.
 
Merchant Marine applied pressure early in the second to force two Maritime turnovers and took advantage to up the score, 5-2.  After another two Mariner goals, Merchant Marine received three straight penalties where Diaz wound up and took a look down the open lane and scored for the man-up goal, assisted by Specht. The Mariners tacked on one final goal before halftime, sending the Privateers in the locker room behind, 7-3.  
 
The Mariners added two more goals in the third quarter while also holding the Privateers scoreless in the frame, as the Maritime trailed by six heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Merchant Marine started the fourth netting two more, but Maritime wouldn't let up and finally ended the scoring drought as Ziemski netted a man-up goal assisted by Kevin Izzo (Cutchogue, N.Y./Mattituck) nearly three minutes into the final frame. The Privateers added another goal just 19 seconds later as Ragusa found Connell to strike the mesh on another man-up opportunity. Maritime added a third straight man-up goal as Diaz connected with Ziemski who pulled the trigger to cut the Mariner lead to five. Merchant Marine then started to shut the door, adding one more goal as time began to tick against the Privateers. Both teams remained scoreless for the final eight minutes of action, as the Privateers were not able to complete the late comeback.  
 
Merchant Marine did not particularly take command of the shots category, only edging out the Privateers 45-39. Ground balls were relatively even for the teams as the Mariners collected 43 compared to the Privateers 41.
 
In the faceoff circle, Maritime dominated Merchant Marine, winning 14 of 22 faceoffs compared to the Mariner's eight. The man-down defense was also perfect for Maritime who successfully killed all three Merchant Marine man-up opportunities.  
 
With the loss, Maritime drops to 4-5 on the season and an even 2-2 in Skyline Conference action. Merchant Marine improves to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play.
 
Ending their three-game stretch of home contests, Maritime will now hit the road and will travel to Mount St. Mary for a Skyline matchup on Wednesday, April 5^th with opening faceoff set for 7:00 P.M. against the Knights.
 
The Mariners will next host Mount St. Vincent on their home turf on Tuesday April 4^th with a starting time of 7:30 P.M.