Box Score Sophomore Duo Set School Single-Game Records
GORHAM, Maine -- Sophomores Seth Wing (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) and Keegan Smith (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) set single-game records to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies men's lacrosse team to a 19-7 victory over the visiting New England College Pilgrims in non-conference action Saturday afternoon at Hannaford Field.
The win was the second straight for the unbeaten Huskies, and their first over the Pilgrims since 2009. The Pilgrims dropped their third consecutive game and remain winless in 2015.
Wing scored a record seven goals to surpass the previous single-game record of six held by eight different players. Smith had a team-high nine points, including a single-game record seven assist. Smith broke the previous mark of six held by three players.
Rookie Nate DelGiudice (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) added three goals; sophomore Tyler Jamison (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) contributed two goals and one assist, and junior Austin Watts (Westbrook, Maine) chipped in a goal and two assists.
Southern Maine used three rookie goalies in the game. Starter Zach Bessette (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) played the opening half making six saves. John Bossi (Billerica, Mass.) took over in the third quarter and recorded four stops over 26:35 before giving way to Tucker Furnbach (Freedom, N.H./Kennett) who played the final 3:25 making one stop.
For the visiting Pilgrims, rookie Matt Richard (Weare, N.H./John Stark) and senior Nick Herzog (Hampstead, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) had two goals. Junior Skyler Saunders (Cambridge, Mass.) had three points on a goal and two assists. Senior goalie Chris Galluzzo (New London, N.H.) had 13 saves before junior AJ Aitoro (Norwalk, Conn.) took over with seven minutes to play. Aitoro recorded one save.
Southern Maine jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening quarter as Wing (3g) and Smith (2g, 2a) scored all five goals.
Richard got NEC on the board early in the second quarter with an up goal. USM scored three consecutive goals midway through the period to increase its lead to 9-2. The Pilgrims outscored the Huskies 3-1 over the final six minutes to trail at halftime 10-4.
Herzog and Saunders sandwiched a goal by Wing to pull the Pilgrims within five (11-6), but that is as close as the Pilgrims would get as the Huskies scored three consecutive goals to swing the momentum. Richard netted his second goal with 28 seconds in the third to make it 14-7.
The Huskies scored five unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to account for the final tally.
Southern Maine will host the University of Maine at Farmington in its next game on Wednesday (3:30 p.m.). New England College will play at Eastern Connecticut State University on Tuesday (1:00 p.m.).
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