The Maritime College men's lacrosse team played outstanding defense against Vassar College on Wednesday night as they held the Brewers to just one goal in the first half and ended up pulling out an 8-5 win. The non-conference victory marked the fourth straight for the Privateers after dropping their season opener.

The Privateers came out hot in the opening quarter as Brett Trodden (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) took a pass from Danny Connell (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) and found the back of the net just 36 seconds into the game. Maritime continued to control the pace of play for the next 10 minutes as they shut down Vassar's offense and and put away two more goals of their own. Mike Leake (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) and Bryan Keegan (Lake Grove, N.Y./Sachem North) both picked up first quarter goals off a pass from Matt DeMeo (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) as they helped the Privateers take a 3-0 lead. However, Vassar's offense, which scored 24 goals a week ago against Mount Saint Mary, finally found some rhythm and scored it's first goal of the game with two minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The second quarter saw more stifling defense from Maritime as they continued to limit the Brewers chances at making a comeback. Keegan netted his second goal of the game just two minutes into the quarter and then over 10 minutes later DeMeo made it a 5-1 advantage for the Privateers heading into the locker room.

Coming out of halftime DeMeo made it three straight goals as he found the back of the net twice in the first four minutes of the third quarter. After the Brewers cut the lead back to five goals at 7-2, Maritime's offense turned to DeMeo yet again as the sophomore took a pass from Connell and made it an 8-2 lead before the fourth quarter began. 

Maritime's defense started to get tripped up in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late from Vassar and the Privateers held on for the 8-5 win.

Weigold tallied 12 saves in the win to lead Maritime on defense, while DeMeo picked up four goals and two assists for the offense. Kevin Buser (/) picked up six face-offs for the Privateers and Michael Petty (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) chipped in a team-high five ground balls. 

"It feels good to win four straight games, but we definitely have a lot of work left to do," said head coach Justin Manjares. "Vassar is a very good team and I'm very proud of our guys for holding them to just five goals after they put up 24 last time out."

Maritime gets back on the field next week on Wednesday as they travel United States Coast Guard Academy at 7 p.m. Check out highlights and the post-game press conference below!