CANTON, N.Y. – Maine Maritime men's lacrosse fell to SUNY Canton, 23-19 in a North Atlantic Conference (NAC) matchup on Sunday afternoon.

How it Happened: Caden White (Woodstock, Vt.) opened up the scoring for the Mariners with an early goal before SUNY Canton scored four consecutive goals to take a 4-1 lead. The Mariners answered with three straight goals from Riley Morin (Harpswell, Maine), Jacob Belanger (Brunswick, Maine) assisted by White, and Zeke Tocci (Naples, Maine) assisted by Jayden Wilson (Lewiston, Maine) to tie the game up 4-4. The Kangaroos then scored two quick goals late in the first quarter to take a two point lead. SUNY Canton struck first in the second quarter, before White assisted Alex Stevens (South Portland, Maine) for his first goal of the afternoon. The Kangaroos then scored another goal and Tocci answered with an unassisted goal. SUNY Canton quickly answered with a goal before Stevens found Evan Golembeske (New Milford, Conn.) for a man-down goal. The Kangaroos then scored four consecutive goals before White found Belanger for a goal to make the score 14-8 going into halftime.

The Mariners and Kangaroos started off the second half trading goals from Tocci, assisted by Chandler Coombs (Brunswick, Maine) and Belanger assisted by Stevens to make the score 16-10 in favor of the Kangaroos. The Mariners then scored back-to-back goal from Stevens assisted by Tocci and Brendan Reddington (Wallingford, Conn.) assisted by Sam Nichol (Concord, N.H.), before SUNY Canton ended the third quarter with a goal to make the score 17-12. The Kangaroos started the fourth with a goal before Maine Maritime quickly answered with a goal from Nichol. SUNY Canton then scored four straight goals to make the score 22-13. The Mariners answered with four consecutive goals from Stevens, Nichol, Golembeske, and Stevens again before SUNY Canton found the back of the net. The Mariners scored two more goals from Golembeske and Stevens to end the game with a score of 23-19.

Inside the Numbers: Stevens led the Mariners with five goals and two assists for seven points, along with four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Tocci, Golembeske, and Belanger each added three goals. Ian Haines (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and Alex Snowman (Sarasota, Fla.) each caused a game-high three turnovers.

Zack LaFave led the Kangaroos with six goals and one assist, while Alex Jacobs and Hunter Olson each added five goals. LaFave also picked up a game-high six ground balls and Austin Mesler caused two turnovers.

Zach McCarthy (Malvern, Pa.) recorded 12 saves for the Mariners, while Sam Servati tallied 12 for the Kangaroos.

SUNY Canton held a 55-44 advantage in shots and a 37-31 advantage in ground balls over the Mariners.

Up Next: The Mariners fall to 6-6 overall and 5-2 in conference, while SUNY Canton improves to 7-6 overall and 5-2 in conference. Maine Maritime returns to action on Tuesday, April 26 at 1:00pm when they host NVU-Lyndon in their last NAC game of the regular season.