BRONX, N.Y. (April 5, 2025) – A second half that saw a stout defensive effort and a total of nine saves by sophomore goalie Julian Garcia (Lakeway, Texas) helped lead the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy men's lacrosse team to a 13-7 road victory over rival SUNY Maritime on Saturday evening at the Privateers' Reinhart Field. The victory, which was the Mariners' first over Maritime in the regular season since 2018, improves their record to 5-4 (2-0 Skyline), while the Privateers fall to 2-7 (0-1 Skyline) in defeat.
 
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• Box Score 

Sophomore Owen Behr (Vestavia Hills, Ala.) recorded four goals on the night, and with his hat-trick goal early in the fourth quarter reached the 100-point plateau for his career. He now has 60 goals and 40 assists over his two seasons with the Blue and Gray. Junior Owen Barcus (Annapolis, Md.) led all players in the game with six points, as he found the back of the net three times and also dished out three assists.
 
Seniors Michael Emerick (Damascus, Md.) and Jack Collins (Memphis, Tenn.) both had three-point nights, as Emerick scored three times and Collins had one tally and two helpers, and junior William Badeer (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added two assists. Also finding the scoresheet for USMMA was junior Kyle Hennelly (Dacula, Ga.) with a goal and freshman Landon Locke (Midlothian, Va.) with an assist.
 
Defensively, junior Michael Valentine IV (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) tied for the game-high with four caused turnovers, while seven other Mariners had one CT each. Garcia made 16 saves total and of the nine in the second half, seven came in the final 15 minutes alone. He also scooped up six ground balls to lead the Mariners. Senior Chris Neuman (South Huntington, N.Y.) won eight face-offs and freshman Tucker Kuhn (Towson, Md.) secured five GBs, while also going 2-for-2 in the face-off X.
 
After the Privateers opened the scoring with two goals in the first 2.5 minutes of the opening quarter, Merchant Marine responded with the next four goals into the early part of the second to take a 4-2 lead at 14:00 of the second quarter.
 
The next eight goals were two for Maritime, followed by two for the Mariners, followed by two more for the Privateers (before halftime), and then two more for USMMA, giving the visitors an 8-6 lead with 5:16 to play in the third quarter.
 
Maritime's only goal of the second half came shortly after the Mariners' eighth tally in the third quarter, before the strong KP defensive effort and the "save show" by Garcia kicked in. There was a three-minute stretch of the fourth quarter where Garcia made five stops.
 
The Merchant Marine offense tallied the final five goals of the game, including a team goal to close out the scoring after a defensive mistake by the Privateers led to an own goal.
 
Maritime was led by graduate student Luke Caliendo and sophomore Nick LiPuma, who both scored twice, while five other Privateers recorded one point apiece. Grad. student Joseph Bruno won 14-of-24 face-offs and picked up six ground balls. Freshman defenseman Ryan Giambone led all players in the game with seven GBs and tied Valentine for the game-high with four caused turnovers. In net, senior Michael Monahan made 13 saves in the losing effort.
 
Up next, the Mariners will face the reigning Skyline Conference Champions, the Rams of Farmingdale State College, on Wednesday afternoon, April 9. Opening face-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. at FSC's Rams Field.
 
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