Eastern Connecticut Pulls Away from Southern Maine 16-6

            MANSFIELD, Conn. -- The Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors used a big third quarter outburst to pull away from the visiting University of Southern Maine Huskies for a 16-6 victory in Little East Conference men's lacrosse action Saturday at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.  The game was the conference opener for both teams.

            The victory snapped a two-game losing skid for the Warriors, and improved their overall record to 3-4.  The Huskies dropped their second game of the season to sit at 3-2 overall.

            Leading 7-1 at halftime, the Warriors outscored the Huskies 7-0 in the third quarter to blow the game open.  Six different players scored for the Warriors in the quarter with senior Chris Barnett (Wilton, Conn.) tallying twice.

            The Huskies scored five times in the fourth quarter to close the gap, but the damage had been done.

            Sophomore Seth Wing (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) led the Huskies scoring three goals.  Classmate Keegan Smith (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) had three points on two goals and one assist.  Junior Austin Watts (Westbrook, Maine) chipped in a goal and one assist.  Junior Eddie Barrasso (Wilmington, Mass.) scooped up a game-high 11 ground balls.

            USM rookie goalies Zach Bessette (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) and John Bossi (Billerica, Mass.) split time in the cage.  Bessette played the first half posting six saves.  Bossi took over in the second half and made four saves.

            Barnett and junior Tim Reilly (Hanover, Mass.) led all scorers with six points.  Barnett had three goals and three assists while Reilly had two goals and four assists.  Sophomore Shawn Tierney (Norwell, Mass.) scored a game-high four goals and dished out one assist for a five-point game.

            Junior Blake Smaldone (Hamilton, Mass./Hyde [Conn.]) played the first three quarters in goal making 12 saves to earn his third win of the season.  Classmate Brendan Gillotti (Danbury, Conn.) played the final quarter and stopped three shots.

            Eastern Connecticut had a 49-28 edge in shots and was successful on 18 of 21 clear attempts.  Southern Maine had a 17-9 advantage on face-offs.

            Southern Maine will play a rescheduled game on Tuesday (4:30 p.m.) at Maine Maritime Academy.  Eastern Connecticut is off until next Saturday (2:00 p.m.) when it hosts the University of Massachusetts Boston in a Little East Conference game. 

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