KINGS POINT, NY – In last season's Skyline Conference Championship Game, the Maritime College men's lacrosse team fell to Merchant Marine, snapping the Privateers' 33-game winning streak against conference opponents that dated back to 2019.  Maritime had the chance to avenge that defeat on Saturday afternoon in its 2024 Skyline opener.  Mission accomplished.  The Privateers (5-4, 1-0 Skyline) notched a 20-16 victory over the Mariners (4-4, 0-1 Skyline) at Brooks Stadium for their 29^th straight regular season conference win.

Maritime jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before Merchant Marine closed the first quarter with three straight goals.  Connor Tomich (Sayville, NY), returning to the lineup for the first time since the season opener, found the back of the net twice in 48 seconds to make it 6-3, then, after a tally by the Mariners' Michael Emerick, Parker Reilly (West Islip, NY) started a six-goal Maritime spurt that extended the Privateers' advantage to 12-4 at halftime.

The Mariners outscored the Privateers 7-1 in the third quarter, however, to pull within 13-11.  After the teams traded goals to start the fourth quarter, Maritime rattled off six of the next seven tallies to open up a 20-13 cushion with 4:35 remaining.  Merchant Marine scored three times in a two-minute span to get back within four at 20-16, but would pull no closer, and the Privateers retained the Hagedorn Cup for the fifth consecutive time.

Reilly finished with eight points on six goals and two assists.  Tomich added five goals and an assist, while Patrick Schnell (Jericho, NY) had four goals and an assist to go along with three ground balls.  Joseph Bruno (East Islip, NY) went 21-for-35 on faceoffs and collected nine ground balls, while Kieran Hendry (East Northport, NY) picked up a career-high 13 ground balls.  Luke Caliendo (North Babylon, NY) gathered six ground balls, and Grant Gifford (Oakdale, NY) was credited with three caused turnovers.  Goalkeeper Jack Daresta (Massapequa, NY) (4-3) recorded nine saves in the win.

Owen Barcus paced the Mariners with four goals, while William Badeer and Owen Behr both tallied three goals and an assist.  Mark Bredeck corralled seven ground balls, and Chris Neuman registered six ground balls.  Michael Valentine, meanwhile, caused four turnovers.  Julian Garcia (3-2) made eight saves and took the loss.

On Wednesday night, Maritime visits Kean (7-4) at 7 p.m.  It will be the Privateers' final non-conference game of the season.