Box Score Southern Maine Downs Saint Joseph's 9-6
PORTLAND, Maine -- Sophomore Nate DelGiudice (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) and senior Austin Watts (Westbrook, Maine) each had three goals and two assists to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 9-6 win over the Saint Joseph's College Monks in non-conference men's lacrosse action Wednesday evening at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
The win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Huskies and improved their overall record to 5-3 overall. The Monks, winners of three of their last four games, slipped to 4-6 overall.
Junior Keegan Smith complemented DelGiudice and Watts with a one goal and three assists. Rookie Josh Murphy (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) won 15 of 18 faceoffs and scooped up a game-high 10 ground balls. Sophomore goalie Zach Bessette (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) made five saves, all coming in the second half, to improve his record to 2-1 on the season.
Rookie Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) and sophomore Joe O'Reilly (Suffern, N.Y.) led the Monks with two goals apiece. Senior Jake O'Brien (Andover, Mass.) dished out three assists. Sophomore goalie Connor Trainor (Franklin, Mass.) stopped 13 shots.
The Huskies jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening quarter on goals from DelGiudice, Smith, Watts and senior Jaymz McStowe (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North). Finn broke the string of USM goals for the Monks with eight seconds remaining in the quarter.
Goals by DelGiudice and Watts pushed the Huskies lead to 6-1 in the second quarter. Sophomore Matt Donnell (Watertown, Mass.) got one back for the Monks, and the teams headed into the halftime break with USM ahead 6-2.
St. Joseph's made a run at USM in the opening 10 minutes of the third quarter chopping three goals off the Huskies' lead. O'Reilly, rookie Tyler Retalic (Framingham, Mass.) and Finn found the net to get the Monks back into the game.
The Huskies responded with junior Seth Wing (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) and DelGiudice scoring goals 39 seconds apart late in the quarter to give the Huskies an 8-5 edge. O'Reilly got the Monks back within two with four seconds to play in the quarter.
Watts' third goal of the game came with 13:20 to play in the game, but that would be the last goal for either team.
The Huskies piled up a 44-30 advantage in shots and a 31-21 edge in ground balls, including a 21-10 margin in the second half.
Southern Maine will host the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in a Little East Conference game on Saturday (1:00 p.m.). Saint Joseph's returns to Great Northeast Athletic Conference play on Saturday hosting Albertus Magnus College at Memorial Field.
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