Box Score UMass Boston Holds Off Southern Maine 14-11
BOSTON -- Sophomore Michael Kennedy (Hudson, Mass.) and junior Noah Ellis (Hingham, Mass.) combined for 10 goals as the University of Massachusetts Boston Beacons held on for a 14-11 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference men's lacrosse game Tuesday afternoon.
The victory snapped a six-game losing skid for the Beacons who improved to 5-9 overall and 1-5 in conference play. The Huskies dropped their fourth straight game to slide back to .500 overall at 6-6, and 1-5 in the conference.
Senior John Powers (Marshfield, Mass.) and junior Nick Weiss (Westfield, Mass.) had a goal and two assists apiece to complement Kennedy and Ellis. Junior Craig Frehill (Norwell, Mass.) and sophomore AJ Collette (West Springfield, Mass.) split the goaltending chores for the Beacons and combined for four saves.
Junior Austin Watts (Westbrook, Maine) scored a season-high six goals to lead the Huskies' attack. Classmate Jaymz McStowe (Plymouth, Mass.) picked up a hat trick, and sophomore Keegan Smith (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) added a goal and dished out four assists. Freshmen goalies Zach Bessette (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) and John Bossi (Billerica, Mass.) combined to make a total of 13 saves.
The Beacons grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on a pair of goals by Kennedy and one from senior Joe Johnson (Roxbury, Mass./Gould Academy). The Beacons were able to nurse the lead throughout the remainder of the first half as Ellis tallied a pair of goals, and Weiss and Kennedy found the net to make it 7-5 at the break. Watts had three of the Huskies' five goals in the half.
Southern Maine, led by Watts, opened the third quarter with three goals in the opening two minutes to take the lead 8-7. Watts scored a man-up goal 16 seconds into the quarter, then combined with McStowe to score goals 16 seconds apart.
Powers sparked a three-goal run to regain the lead for the Beacons. After Powers tying goal, Ellis scored twice to give the home side a 10-8 lead. McStowe and Kennedy traded goals before the end of the quarter to make it 11-9 going into the fourth.
Watts got the Huskies back within one with 13:16 to go, but Kennedy countered 18 seconds later converting a feed from Ellis to restore the Beacons two-goal lead. Senior Dom Fichera (Scituate, Mass./BC High) gave the Beacons a three-goal advantage with less than seven minutes to play.
McStowe scored the Huskies final goal less than a minute later to get USM back to within two, but Kennedy added an insurance goal with 4:04 to play to account for the final tally.
UMass Boston out shot Southern Maine 36-30, and won the battle of the ground balls 34-22.
Southern Maine closes the regular season on Saturday (12:00 p.m.) hosting Western Connecticut State University on Senior Day. UMass Boston travels to in-state rival UMass Dartmouth on Saturday (7:00 p.m.) to close the regular season.
-ble-
