THROGGS NECK, NY – Tuesday marked five years to the day since the last time the Maritime College men's lacrosse team lost to a Skyline Conference opponent.  The Privateers fell in overtime to Mount St. Mary in the semifinals of the Skyline Tournament that day.  Five years later, in another Skyline semifinal matchup, Maritime completely dominated the Knights.  The top-seeded Privateers (13-5) moved into the Skyline Championship Game for the fourth consecutive time with a 24-4 victory over fourth-seeded Mount St. Mary (5-8) at Reinhart Field.

It was a close game to start, as the score was level at 1-1 midway through the first quarter.  However, Connor Tomich's (Sayville, NY) at the 2:01 mark opened the floodgates.  Maritime scored twice in the final 16 seconds of the opening period—with Jason Corvi (Smithtown, NY) converting a man-up tally and Christian Vera (Baldwin, NY) finding the back of the net just before time expired in the quarter.

The Privateers kept pouring it on early in the second quarter, adding five more goals to increase their lead to 9-1.  After Larry Frank put Mount St. Mary back on the board, Patrick Schnell (Jericho, NY) started another 5-0 Maritime spurt.  Three of those goals came in the final minute, as the Privateers took a 14-2 advantage into the halftime break.

Ryan Brice (Wall, NJ) continued the onslaught just 36 seconds into the third quarter, and Parker Reilly (West Islip, NY) added another tally before the Knights' Maxwell Green Wright scored with the man-up.  The Privateers responded with eight straight goals, though, extending their cushion to 24-3.  Mount St. Mary's Nick Gurello found the back of the net with seven seconds remaining to cap the scoring in Maritime's 24-4 victory.  The 24 goals were the Privateers' season-high.

Maritime controlled possession all night, winning 30-of-31 faceoffs and holding a 57-28 edge in ground balls.  Joseph Bruno (East Islip, NY) was 26-for-27 on faceoffs and picked up 14 ground balls.  Thomas Pellicci (Manorville, NY) finished 4-for-4 on faceoffs and collected five ground balls, while Mattew Weigand (Massapequa, NY) also gathered five ground balls.  The Privateers also outshot the Knights 58-16.

Offensively, Tomich led Maritime with a career-high nine points.  He scored four times and added five assists while also gathering five ground balls.  Reilly recorded four goals of his own to go along with two assists and five ground balls.  Schnell, Charles Longo (Bellport, NY) and Charles Gerace (Miller Place, NY), meanwhile, each had two goals and an assist.

All three Privateer goalkeepers saw action, with Ben McGrady (Annapolis, MD) (13-4) earning the win after going 37-plus minutes and making one save.  Michael Monahan (Ronkonkoma, NY) was credited with two saves, and Jack Daresta (Massapequa, NY) tallied one save over the final 11 minutes.

Gurello was the only Knight with a multi-point effort.  He had a goal and an assist.  Joseph Angelillo led Mount St. Mary with four ground balls, and he also caused three turnovers.  In addition to notching four ground balls, goalkeeper Kenny Leen (5-8) finished with 10 saves.

On Friday night, Maritime will host second-seeded Merchant Marine (9-6), an 11-9 winner over Farmingdale in the other semifinal, at 7 p.m. in the Skyline Championship Game.  When the Privateers and Mariners met to open conference play on April 1, Schnell's late goal gave Maritime a 10-9 victory.