THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – The Maritime men's lacrosse team fell short to the Knights of Mount St. Mary in the semifinal round of the Skyline Conference Championship. The 14-13 loss came in overtime on Wednesday night on Reinhart Field.
 
Maritime was led by sophomore Danny Connell (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford), who had a team-high five points on the night, scoring three goals and handing out two assists. Freshman Matt DeMeo (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) scored three goals also for the Privateers and seniors Nick Pellegrino (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) and Brett Daigle (West Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) each scored two goals in the game. They each had one assist also giving them three points each for the game.
 
Sophomore defender Mark Buchner (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) led Maritime in the ground ball game tonight, picking up seven. Junior Michael Petty (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) got in on the action with five ground balls while senior defender John Piscitello Jr. (Bayville, N.Y./Locust Valley) added three ground balls. Piscitello also led the Privateers with three caused turnovers. Four other Maritime players finished with one caused turnover a piece.
 
In the net for Maritime was senior Brendan McNally (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach), who stopped 14 shots on the game while allowing the 14 goals. He also added three ground balls to his credit.
 
Mount St. Mary scored their first goal 95 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead. At the 12:52 mark, Pellegrino scored his first goal to even things up at one. Mount St. Mary scored their second goal less than 30 seconds later to go up 2-1.
 
Senior T.J. Ragusa (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) would come right back to tie things up again with his first goal of the night at the 11:09 mark of the first quarter. Mount St. Mary went on to score the next three goals to close out the opening quarter of play as they led 5-2.
 
Maritime opened the second quarter with three straight goals to tie the game up at five. DeMeo scored the first one at the 9:52 mark, followed by Connell at 8:20 and then Pellegrino at 8:04. Mount St. Mary scored at the 6:03 mark to go up 6-5 only to be tied again thanks to a second goal from DeMeo to even it up at 6.
 
Mount St. Mary started to run away scoring the next three goals to go up 9-6. Connell closed out the first half with his second goal to make the score 9-7 with both teams headed into the locker room.
 
Maritime came out firing to start the second half with junior Ian Ziemski (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) scoring at the 13:51 mark followed by a goal from senior Brett Trodden (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) at the 13:13 mark to tie the score again. Then at the 11:29 mark DeMeo score his third goal to give Maritime its first lead of the night. Mount St. Mary would score the next goal to tie the game up once again.
 
A few minutes later at the 6:43 mark, Daigle scored his second goal to give Maritime the lead 11-10. Then at the 3:46 mark, Daigle scored again to make it 12-10.
 
In the opening minute of the fourth quarter, Connell scored his third goal to put Maritime up 13-10. Mount St. Mary would score the next three goals, including one in the final minute to tie the game at 13. Maritime had a few opportunities late but could not convert as the game went into overtime.
 
In the sudden death overtime, Maritime got off a quick first shot but it was saved and then DeMeo had a chance to win it, but his shot was saved also. Mount St. Mary would get a breakaway and eventually score, taking the opening round game by a final score of 14-13.
 
Maritime concludes their 2018 season with a 10-5 finish including 4-2 in conference play.
 
Mount St. Mary (12-6, 4-2 Skyline) will play next on Saturday, May 5th when they face Merchant Marine in the Skyline Conference Championship at Brooks Stadium.