THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – Playing in its final weeknight game of the regular season the Maritime men's lacrosse team hosted the St. Joseph's (LI) Golden Eagles on Reinhart Field on Friday night. The Privateers kept up an early pace with the Golden Eagles before St. Joseph's ran away late for the 16-11 victory.
 
Maritime was led by senior Nick Pellegrino (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East), who registered five goals on the evening. Junior Ian Ziemski (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) tallied a pair of goals on as many shots, while senior Ian Danahy (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) also had two goals on the game. Sophomore Danny Connell (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) and freshman Matt DeMeo (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) each had one goal and one assist on the game. Six other Privateers added solo assists on the matchup.
 
Defensively Maritime was led by senior John Piscitello Jr. (Bayville, N.Y./Locust Valley), who recorded three caused turnovers while freshman Bryan Keegan (Lake Grove, N.Y./Sachem North) notched a pair of caused turnovers on the night. Junior Rob Antonio (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) led the Privateers with three ground balls, while Keegan, Connell, DeMeo, seniors T.J. Ragusa (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh), and Paul Lafrancesca (Nesconset, N.Y./Sachem North), and freshman Joey Manno (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) each had two loose ball pickups on the night.
 
Manno took the majority of Maritime's faceoffs and went 3-for-15, while senior Anthony Gervasio (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) was 3-for-6 on his chances. Sophomore Mark Buchner (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) was 0-for-1 on the draw, while Ragusa took the first seven faceoffs of his career and went 1-for-7.
 
In goal, senior Brendan McNally (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) stopped 12 shots while allowing 15 of St. Joseph's 16 goals. Freshman Kyle Bockelman (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) played the final 2:39 in goal for the Privateers while assisting on the defensive effort.
 
St. Joseph's (LI) jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, scoring its third goal with 5:40 left in the opening quarter. Maritime got a pair back in the remainder of the stanza as Pellegrino took a pass from junior Michael Petty (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) for the first Maritime goal of the night. Pellegrino scored again with eight seconds left in the quarter off a feed from senior Brett Daigle (West Sayville, N.Y./Sayville).
 
As the game turned to the second quarter it was Pellegrino again to score as Connell got the helper to even the score at three with 13:38 left in the half. However, the Golden Eagles scored four unanswered goals to regain a strong lead at 7-3.
 
Maritime chipped away as Pellegrino notched a man-up goal off a pass from junior Brett Trodden (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) before DeMeo added his first of the night from a Keegan feed to send Maritime into the locker room trailing by two at 7-5.
 
The Golden Eagles scored five of the first six goals of the second half as Ziemski's goal was sandwiched in between. The Privateers trailed at 12-6 before Danahy scored a highlight-reel goal to trim the deficit to five with 1:34 left in the third quarter.
 
After St. Joseph's scored the opening goal of the fourth quarter, Danahy scored a man-down goal as he took a feed from sophomore Patrick McAllister (Levittown, N.Y./MacArthur) after a strong defensive effort by Piscitello and Lafrancesca. St. Joseph's scored next followed by two-straight by the Privateers as Connell scored from a pass from junior Justin Weigold (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) before Pellegrino notched an unassisted goal to make the score 14-10.
 
The Golden Eagles added the next two to put the game out of reach with a six-goal lead with 1:22 left in regulation, before Maritime added a goal in the final minute as Ziemski notched his fourth goal of the season.
 
Maritime (8-4, 2-2 Skyline) will have the chance to regroup with seven days of rest before its next matchup, which takes place on the road on Saturday, April 21 at Farmingdale. The game time against the Rams is 2:30 p.m.
 
St. Joseph's (LI) (6-4, 2-3 Skyline) will play a non-conference game next as the team travels to southern New Jersey for a date with former conference opponent Stockton with game time set for 7 p.m. against the Ospreys.