SCRANTON, PA – The Maritime College men's lacrosse team played an absolute classic in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Scranton on Wednesday. Both sides had a chance to win the final minute of regulation before the contest went into overtime level at 14-14. The Royals (14-6) then scored at the 1:02 mark of the extra period to earn a 15-14 victory over the Privateers (10-9) at Weiss Field.
Nick Uzakewicz (Hauppauge, NY) put Maritime in front, 14-13, with 8:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, and it would remain that way until Kyle Holmes netted the equalizer with 1:32 left in regulation. The Privateers won the ensuing faceoff, then used their final timeout to set up one last possession.
Michael Weigand's (Massapequa, NY) shot with 14 seconds to go was saved and Scranton picked up the ground ball. After
Cristian Scaffaro (Brookhaven, NY) made the save on Eric Reisenwitz, Holmes had his attempt hit the crossbar at the buzzer, sending the contest into overtime.
Maritime had the first possession of OT, and went man-up after a holding penalty by Reisenwitz.
Thomas McCarvill (Rockville Centre, NY) was stopped by Royals goalkeeper Carsen Kirchner, who set up Scranton's first possession in the extra session. With 1:02 remaining, Quinn Carson got one by Scaffaro to send the Royals into the second round, 15-14.
"If you watched today, you may have seen one of the best games of the tournament," Privateers Head Coach
Justin Manjares said. "That's something I'm proud about. These young men battled to the end, and that's been the story this entire season."
After Scranton recorded the first goal of the game, Maritime rattled off four straight tallies to take a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Royals used a 4-1 run of their own to even the score at 5-5 with 3:35 left until halftime. The Privateers went back in front when an acrobatic
Nick LiPuma (Bayport, NY) attempt ended up in the back of the net.
Christopher Laino (West Islip, NY) controlled the faceoff, then raced down and found
Ryan Hannaford (Bayport, NY), who put one away as the halftime horn sounded, increasing Maritime's cushion to 7-5 at the break.
Scranton cut the margin to one early in the third quarter before back-to-back tallies by Weigand and Hannaford again put the Privateers up by three, 9-6. The Royals rallied to tie the game at 9-9, and the teams would trade goals the rest of the way. Maritime took the lead each time, but Scranton always had a response. The final score was the Royals' only advantage of the game other than 1-0.
"We were up 4-1 at one point, and Scranton fought back," Manjares said. "We had the final shot. Unfortunately, it didn't come up our way. In overtime, we both got a possession, and they finally put it away."
Hannaford led the Privateers with four goals, and he added two assists. McCarvill finished with three goals and an assist to go along with four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Tyler Mahood (Sleepy Hollow, NY) also had a hat trick for Maritime. In addition to causing three turnovers,
Brody Smith (Rehoboth Beach, DE) paced the Privateers with eight ground balls. Laino, meanwhile, collected seven ground balls. Scaffaro (10-7) was credited with 10 saves in the contest.
Four different Scranton players posted three goals apiece. Brendan Donohue notched three goals and three assists, while the game-winner was Carson's third tally of the game. Holmes and Jason Kozak each added three goals, and Chase Ritcey found the back of the net twice. Cooper Roberts, meanwhile, finished with a goal and three assists. David Kelly went 14-for-16 on faceoffs and picked up a team-best seven ground balls. Kirchner (10-2) made 13 saves in the winning effort.
This was Maritime's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2022 and the fourth in program history.
