The Maritime College men's lacrosse team continued their unbeaten 2021 campaign on Saturday afternoon as they defeated Farmingdale St. 14-12. The victory solidified the Privateers place atop the Skyline Conference standings as they are now 5-0 while the Rams dropped to 3-1.

All season long Maritime had been plagued by slow starts, but today they were finally able to flip the switch right from the opening face-off. The Privateers took a 2-0 lead behind goals from Mike Leake (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) and Jack Louer (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) within the first two minutes of action. The Privateers then continued to dominate on both sides of the field as they built their lead to an 8-1 advantage heading into halftime. Leake, Louer, and Connor Buschle (Bellport, NY/St. John the Baptist) all netted a pair of goals in the first half, with Jason Corvi (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown West) and Bryan Keegan (Lake Grove, N.Y./Sachem North) scoring the other two. Kevin Buser (Babylon, NY/) turned in another impressive performance at the face-off as he went 9-11 in the half.

The third quarter saw the Maritime offense slow down a little as the Rams attempted to make it a close game by cutting the score to 8-4, but a big momentum changing goal from Charles Longo (Bellport, NY/Bellport) in the final minute made it a five goal advantage heading into the final quarter of action. The Privateers ended up scoring five unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to make the score 14-5, but Farmingdale wouldn't back down and ultimately ended the game at a final score of 14-12. The big offensive run for the Privateers was highlighted by a goal from Kevin Buser (Babylon, NY/), who won the face-off outright and ran right down the field to score his first career goal.

Leake and Keegan led the offensive effort with four points each, while Buschle chipped in three and Louer, Joe Kiernan (Northport, NY/Northport), and Brian Drost (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) each added two. Buser finished 20-27 at the faceoff and a game-high 11 ground balls. Kyle Bockelman (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) got his fifth win of the year in goal with six goals allowed and nine saves.

Watch the post-game press conference with Mike Leake (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side), Joe Kiernan (Northport, NY/Northport), and head coach Justin Manjares below!