THROGGS NECK, NY – On a rainy Saturday afternoon at Reinhart Field, the Maritime College men's lacrosse team did something it hadn't done in 36 years—beat Montclair State.  The Privateers (4-5) scored the first three goals of the game and never looked back, knocking off the Red Hawks (4-5) by an 11-7 count for their third consecutive victory.

Connor Tomich (Sayville, NY) opened the scoring five minutes into the contest before Charles Gerace (Miller Place, NY) and Parker Reilly (West Islip, NY) found the back of the net to make it 3-0.  After Ryan Vierbuchen put Montclair State on the board, Reilly immediately responded with his second of the opening quarter.  The Privateers led 5-2 after the first 15 minutes, and each team scored once in the second quarter to give Maritime a 6-3 halftime advantage.

After Joe Covino brought the Red Hawks within two early in the third quarter, Maritime again rattled off three straight scores, getting two tallies from Gerace and another from Joseph Bruno (East Islip, NY).  Gerace's fourth goal of the day put Maritime in front 10-5, then both teams went nearly 15 minutes without scoring before Sean Foley (Long Beach, NY) connected with Tomich at the 6:35 mark of the fourth quarter.  Montclair State got two goals in less than a minute to cut its deficit to 11-7, but would get no closer, as the Privateers picked up their third straight win.

The victory marked the first the Maritime beat Montclair State since an 8-6 triumph on April 1, 1987.  The Red Hawks had won the last 27 meetings between the schools, including stints as conference rivals in two separate leagues (Knickerbocker Conference, Skyline Conference). 

Gerace picked up three ground balls to go along with his four goals.  Tomich and Reilly each scored twice, while Foley had a pair of assists.  Bruno went 14-for-21 on faceoffs and collected three ground balls, as Maritime held a 48-33 edge in that category.  Matthew Weigand (Massapequa, NY) gathered 12 ground balls, and Kieran Hendry (East Northport, NY) corralled five ground balls.  Ben McGrady (Annapolis, MD) (4-4) made a career-high 20 saves in net.

Vierbuchen and Covino both had two goals for the Red Hawks.  Vierbuchen also added an assist, while Covino and Lucas Novack each secured a team-best four ground balls.  In addition to notching four ground balls, David Metzger (4-5) recorded 17 saves.

This was Maritime's final game before the start of Skyline Conference play.  The Privateers (0-0 Skyline) host Merchant Marine (3-4, 0-0 Skyline) next Saturday at 1 p.m.