The Maritime College men's soccer team continued its winning ways on Reinhart Field with a 1-0 victory over Berkeley College in a hard-fought game. The winning goal came off the foot of Jake Palmer (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) who took a beautiful through ball from Neil Dillon (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park) and beat the goalie in a one-on-one in the 78th minute.

With a constant rain pouring down since the start of the game, play was a little sloppy and physical for both teams as they tried to get into a rhythm. The Knights threatened early with a good shot from outside the box, but junior goalkeeper Michael Rodriguez (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) was there to punch the ball over the top of the net in the seventh minute.

The Privateers offense began to see their chances later in the half with two corner kicks and three shots on goal between the 18th and 22nd minute, but Berkeley was able to stay tough on defense and keep Maritime from taking the early lead. 

In the final 15 minutes of the half, the momentum had shifted in favor of the Knights as they saw multiple opportunities on offense to take a lead going into halftime. However, the Privateers defense haven't let up a goal at home this season and were able to continue their strong play and go into halftime with a 0-0 tie. Rodriguez finished out the half with four saves in goal.

Two minutes into the second half, a mental mistake from the Berkeley goalie gave senior Parker Gallt (Las Vegas, Nev./Plainfield South (Ill.)) a free kick from just outside the box. However, Gallt was unable to find the back of the net and pulled the ball just wide. 

The Privateers kept the pressure on and was closing in on finding the goal to break the tie, but just couldn't put the ball away. However, with time winding down in regulation, Dillon was able to complete a perfect through ball across the field to Palmer on the right side. Palmer easily out ran the defense and only had the goalie to beat, but an aggressive move by the goalie to come out of the net, cut off the angles for the sophomore defender. He found a way to get the ball around the goalie and keep it where he could still put it away before the defense reached him and put the Privateers up 1-0 with 12 minutes left.

"It felt amazing," said Palmer. "Everybody was picking me up, Sblendorio, Parker, and it was just a really great feeling to score there."

Maritime was able to hold strong on defense and keep the home, shutout winning streak alive as the Privateers moved to 5-1 on the season. Maritime outshot the Knights 13-12 overall and had three more corner kicks during the game. Gallt finished with a game-high five shots while Justin Forrest (Lusby, Md./Patuxent) added three of his own. 

"This is a great group of guys," said Palmer. "It's a great start, and we're playing tough. We might not have the most skill of any team on the east coast, but we're a tough team."

The Privateers head to Atlanta, GA this coming weekend, where they will take on two difficult opponents in Millsaps and Emory. They will return home on Sep. 25 at 5:00 p.m. against Saint Elizabeth.