Southern Maine Downs Maine Maritime in Season Opener 14-6

            CASTINE, Maine -- The visiting University of Southern Maine men's lacrosse team dominated the middle two periods outscoring Maine Maritime Academy 7-1 and went on to post a 14-6 victory Saturday afternoon at Ritchie Field in the season-opening game for both teams.

            Sophomore Nate DelGiudice (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee), freshman Paul Leonardo (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable) and senior Jeff Urmston (Bellingham, Mass.) each had three goals for the Huskies.  Junior Seth Wing (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) had two goals and an assist, and junior Keegan Smith (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) had four points on a goal and three assists.  Sophomore goalie John Bossi (Billerica, Mass.) made 11 saves.

            Sophomore Dean Samuelson (Ellsworth, Maine) led the Mariners with two goals and two assists.  Rookie Michael Martel (Biddeford, Maine) had two goals and one assist for a three-point day.  Freshman goalie Cody Schell (Pasadena, Md.) stopped 13 shots.

            The Huskies rolled up a 44-27 advantage in shots and a slim 42-40 edge in ground balls.  Freshman Josh Murphy (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) won 13 of 22 faceoffs and collected a team-high seven ground balls for USM, and sophomore Sam Hornblower (Portland, Maine/Deering) scooped up six ground balls.  MMA senior Tim Grant (East Northport, N.Y.) led all players with a game-high nine ground balls.

            Samuelson gave the Mariners a 3-2 lead late in the first quarter, but Smith answered back 30 seconds later for the Huskies to leave the teams tied 3-3.

            The Huskies took the lead for good in the second quarter.  Wing broke the tie just 1:06 into the quarter with an unassisted marker.  Urmston converted a feed from Smith to make it 5-3, and DelGiudice scored his first goal to give the Huskies a 6-3 lead at the half-time break.

            USM continued to add to its lead in the third quarter as Leonardo and DelGiudice scored in the first nine minutes.  Martel broke the string of six consecutive USM goals to make it 8-4, but the Huskies scored the next six goals to put the game away.

            Southern Maine plays its home opener on Wednesday (3:30 p.m.) entertaining Husson University at Hannaford Field.  Maine Maritime will be at the Third Annual Maritime Classic next Saturday and Sunday at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. 

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