CASTINE, Maine – Maine Maritime men's lacrosse beat SUNY Poly, 12-9 on senior night in a North Atlantic Conference (NAC) matchup Friday evening.

How it Happened: Alex Stevens (South Portland, Maine) found Jacob Belanger (Brunswick, Maine) in front of the net to put the Mariners the board. Zeke Tocci (Naples, Maine) followed up four minutes later when Sam Nichol (Concord, N.H.) found him for a man-up goal to put the Mariners up by two. SUNY Poly then started to heat up, scoring three unanswered goals to go up one with six minutes left in the first quarter. Riley Morin (Harpswell, Maine) found the back of the net for an unassisted goal to tie the game 3-3 at the end of the first. The Wildcats started off the second quarter strong, scoring three consecutive goals to pull ahead of the Mariners. Maine Maritime answered in the last two minutes of the quarter, when Nichol and Jayden Wilson (Lewiston, Maine) each scored unassisted goals to cut the Wildcats' lead to one at halftime.

The Wildcats struck first in the second half, extending their lead to two, before Belanger scored back-to-back goals, both assisted by Tocci, to tie the game up once again. SUNY Poly answered with a man-up goal, before the Mariners scored two quick goals late in the quarter once again from Stevens and Tocci, assisted by Oscar Kwok (York, Maine), to take the lead. The Mariners continued their run with another unassisted goal from Nichol and a goal from Stevens assisted by Belanger to extend their lead to three. The Wildcats scored one more goal on the night before Stevens put them away with a goal from Tocci to claim a 12-9 victory.

Inside the Numbers: Stevens and Belanger led the Mariners with three goals and one assist each, while Tocci added two goals and three assists and Nichol chipped in two goals and one assist. Jed Astbury (Bridgewater, Vt.) won 22 face offs for the Mariners and picked up a game-high 13 ground balls. Ian Haines (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) tied the game-high four caused turnovers and picked up two ground balls.

Brody Guido led the Wildcats with four goals, while Keshawn Clark added two goals and two assists. Joseph Fontanella and Payton Thomas tied the game-high four caused turnovers, while Fontanella chipped in three ground balls.

Zach McCarthy (Malvern, Pa.) tallied 12 saves in 60 minutes for the Mariners, while Mathew Johnson recorded 11 saves for the Wildcats.

The Mariners held a 44-34 advantage in shots and a 39-19 advantage in ground balls over the Wildcats.

Up Next: The Mariners improve to 6-5 overall and 5-1 in conference, while SUNY Poly falls to 6-5 overall and 5-1 in conference. Maine Maritime returns to action on Sunday, April 24 when they travel to New York to face SUNY Canton in a NAC matchup.