HENNIKER, N.H. – Maine Maritime Academy men's lacrosse dropped their regular season finale 10-8 to New England College on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, New England College grabbed sole possession of second place in the North Atlantic Conference standings.

The Mariners opened up the scoring at the 8:27 mark when Nicholas Betti (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) fired in a shot assisted by Mike Fuller (Portland, Maine). New England College tied things up at 2:01 when Sklyer Saunders scored on an assist from Matt Richard. Dean Samuelson (Ellsworth, Maine) net a goal with just 30 seconds left in the first quarter, giving Maine Maritime the 2-1 edge after one.

The Pilgrims scored back-to-back goals to make it 3-2 with 10 minutes left in the quarter, but the Mariners put in two scores in just a 90 second span, including a goal from Fuller and a score by Betti. The Pilgrims responded with back-to-back goals once again, to take a 5-4 lead into the half. 

NEC took their largest lead of the game, 7-4 after scoring the first two goals of the second half but the Mariners answered with two-straight goals and head into the final quarter trailing just 7-6. 

New England College built another three-goal lead early in the fourth quarter, as William Pendleton and Sean Largay each tallied a score in the opening five minutes. Fuller grabbed his second of the day at the 9:12 mark followed by a Bronson Guimond (Portland, Maine) goal at the 8:48 mark slicing the Pilgrim lead to 9-8. New England College rallied late on another goal from Saunders with 2:05 left on the clock and held the Mariners at bay down the stretch to hold on for the 10-8 victory.

Fuller finished the afternoon with two goals and an assist to lead the Mariner attack, while Betti and Guimond added a pair of goals each, and Samuelson contributed a goal and two assists. A.J. Larrabee (Farmington, Maine) chipped in with the other Mariner goal, while adding four ground balls. Jack Tragert (Naples, Maine) led the Mariners with eight ground balls, going 9-of-19 from the face-off.

Richard led the Pilgrims with six assists, Largay finished with four goals and an assist, and Saunders finished with three goals and an assist.

James Wilgus (Phippsburg, Maine) notched an impressive 16 saves on the afternoon for the Mariners, while Chris Galluzzo recorded 17 saves for the Pilgrims.

With the win the Pilgrims improve to 7-7 on the season and 7-1 in NAC play. The loss drops the Mariners to 6-7 overall and 6-2 in the NAC.

Both teams will await the official NAC playoff pairings scheduled to be released on Sunday.