Box Score Southern Maine Pulls Away from Husson 11-3
GORHAM, Maine -- Sophomore Seth Wing (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) scored three second-half goals as the University of Southern Maine men's lacrosse team pulled away from the visiting Husson University Eagles for an 11-3 non-conference victory Wednesday afternoon at Hannaford Field.
Leading 3-2 at the halftime intermission, the Huskies outscored the Eagles 8-1 over the final two quarters, including by a 6-1 count in the final quarter, to take their second win in as many games. The Eagles were playing their season opener.
Sophomore Nate DelGiudice (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) led the Huskies' offense with four goals scoring once in each quarter. Rookie Paul Leonardo (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable) added a pair of goals, and junior Keegan Smith (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) dished out four assists. Freshman Josh Murphy (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) won 10 of 16 faceoffs and led USM with seven ground balls.
Sophomore goalies John Bossi (Billerica, Mass.) and Zach Bessette (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) split time in the USM cage. Bossi started and made one save over the opening 22:48 before giving way to Bessette. Bessette posted five saves over the final 37:12 and was credited with the win.
Sophomore Brooks Gay (Underhill, Vt./Mount Mansfield), senior Brett Martin (Topsham, Maine/Mt. Ararat) and senior Vinny Visconti (North Andover, Mass./Austin Prep) each scored a goal for the Eagles. Freshman goalie Matt Martin (Litchfield, Maine/Oak Hill) stopped 10 shots.
Leonardo scored after taking a nifty feed from senior Eddie Barrasso (Wilmington, Mass.) with 5:18 left in the third quarter to ignite the USM offense. DelGiudice tallied his third marker of the game off a dish from Smith to make it 5-2 heading into the final quarter.
Wing scored 24 seconds into the fourth to push the margin to 6-2. After seven-plus scoreless minutes, the Huskies erupted for five goals over the final 7:19. Sophomore Drew Shane (Casco, Maine/Lake Region) and senior Austin Watts (Westbrook, Maine) scored 59 seconds apart to make it 8-2.
Off the ensuing faceoff, Visconti got the ball and covered most of the field before beating Bessette for a man-down goal, but that would be the last Eagles goal.
DelGiudice responded with his fourth goal off another Smith assist 50 seconds later. Wing scored twice in the final 4:12 to account for the final tally.
The Huskies had the statistical edge out shooting the Eagles 46-19, and taking the battle of the ground balls 36-20. The Huskies were outstanding clearing the ball converting 27 of 29 clears while the Eagle cleared the ball 14 of 25 times.
Southern Maine is off until next Wednesday (3:30 p.m.) when the University of Maine at Farmington visits Hannaford Field. Husson will play its home opener on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) hosting Johnson and Wales University. Both games are non-conference matches.
-ble-
