The Maritime College men's soccer team continued to defend "Fortress Reinhart," as they improved to 6-0 at home this season by defeating Skyline Conference foe, Sarah Lawrence, 3-0. The conference victory vaulted the Privateers to 9-3 overall with a 2-1 record in conference play.

Both defenses came out strong as neither offense was getting great looks early on in the game. Maritime had a couple of decent chances off a corner kick from James Roland (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) in the seventh minute, but the Gryphons were all over it and blocked two shots before they could reach the goal. Sarah Lawrence got some momentum of their own going, registering four shots and a corner kick between the 14th and 17th minute, but that would be end up being the final chances to score in the half for them.

With time winding down in the opening period, both teams appeared to be ready to head to the locker rooms with a 0-0 tie, however, Anthony Sblendorio (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) and the high-powered Privateer offense had other ideas. Following a nice throw in from Joe Merendino (Pawling, N.Y./Pawling), Parker Gallt (Las Vegas, Nev./Plainfield South (Ill.)) was able to use his chest to push the ball towards Sblendorio at the top of the box. The Bay Shore, NY native loaded up and rocketed a shot through traffic and into the lower left hand corner of the net to give Maritime a 1-0 lead with three minutes left in the half.

The Privateers didn't want to give the Gryphons any breathing room and kept the pressure on early in the second half. In the 58th minute, Justin Forrest (Lusby, Md./Patuxent) blasted a free kick from behind midfield towards the box. The ball found it's way to the feet of Christopher Tavernese (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City), who then punched the ball across the front of the box to Nicholas Ciacca (Bologna, Italy/Pelham Memorial (N.Y.)) who blasted a ball right up the middle that was too hot for the goalie to handle. The shot slipped right through the hands of the goalie and just like that, the Privateers were in control with a 2-0 lead.

Twelve minutes later, the Privateers put together one of their best offensive plays of the season as Anthony Palazzolo (Huntington Station, N.Y./Walt Whitman) took a pass up the sideline and dribbled past a Gryphon defender to get near the end line. Palazzalo then played in a perfect cross that found the foot of Sblendorio, who flicked the ball over the goalie's head, off the crossbar, and into the back of the net with a defender right on his heels to make it a 3-0 game.

"Coach was really happy with that goal," said Sblendorio. "We've been working on getting it across your man this whole week, crossing it in exactly like that, build up play, then get the ball in the corner and cut right across. I just caught it with my left foot, little dink right over the keeper, and it hit the crossbar and went in."

The Privateers have now outscored opponents at home by an impressive margin of 36-2. However, Maritime will go on the road for two tough conference games next week against USMMA and St. Joseph's Brooklyn before returning home on Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. against Mount Saint Mary.

"Coach Gwyther says it perfectly in the locker room, 'Fortress Reinhart,'" said Sblendorio. "That breathes through the whole team and we have the same mentality to work hard, work for each other and defend our home."