NEWBURGH, NY – The Maritime College men's lacrosse team entered its regular season finale at Mount St. Mary with the No. 1 seed in the Skyline Conference Tournament already secure.  The Privateers still had plenty to play for, though, as they were looking to finish undefeated in conference play for the fourth consecutive year.  Mission accomplished.  Maritime (12-5, 7-0 Skyline) wrapped up a perfect regular season against conference foes with a 12-6 victory over the Knights (4-7, 3-3 Skyline) at Kaplan Field on Wednesday night.

Mount St. Mary got on the board just 17 seconds into the game, but the Privateers responded less than a minute later.  Jason Corvi's (Smithtown, NY) tally was the first of five straight Maritime goals, as the Privateers opened up a 5-1 lead.  The Knights pulled within four at 7-3 before Parker Reilly (West Islip, NY) scored with 25 seconds left in the second quarter to put Maritime up 8-3 at halftime.

After Patrick Schnell (Jericho, NY) increased the Privateers' advantage to six early in the third quarter, Mount St. Mary tallied two of the next three goals to trim its deficit to 10-5 entering the fourth quarter.  However, Connor Tomich (Sayville, NY) brought the margin to seven with a pair of goals a minute apart in the final period.  The Knights' Xavier Rodriguez capped the scoring in Maritime's 12-6 victory, the Privateers' 32^nd straight against Skyline opposition.

Tomich paced the Privateers with six points, scoring twice and adding four assists.  He also picked up seven ground balls and caused three turnovers.  Reilly finished with two goals, an assist and six ground balls, while Charles Longo (Bellport, NY) had two goals and an assist.  Matthew Weigand (Massapequa, NY) and Joseph Bruno (East Islip, NY) both collected six ground balls, as Maritime held a 51-33 edge in that category.  Ben McGrady (Annapolis, MD) (12-4) earned the win after making eight saves.

For the Knights, Rodriguez led the way with two goals and an assist.  Maxwell Green Wright also found the back of the net twice.  Joseph Angelillo gathered a team-high six ground balls, and Matthew Esposito tallied five ground balls.  Dennis Dowd, meanwhile, had five caused turnovers.  Kenny Leen (4-7) was credited with 17 saves in goal.

Maritime and Mount St. Mary will meet again at Reinhart Field on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the semifinals of the Skyline Tournament.  The Privateers, whose last loss to a conference team came against the Knights in the 2018 semifinals, will enter the contest on an 11-game overall winning streak.