GORHAM, Maine. – The University of Southern Maine Huskies men's lacrosse team celebrated the contributions of seniors Robby Pini (Natick, Mass./Natick) and Xpistos Sourgiadakis (Littleton, N.H./St. Johnsbury Academy) prior to the game on Saturday afternoon in Gorham. The Huskies fell 12-10 to the Castleton Spartans, despite a seven-goal fourth quarter. 

When and Where: Saturday, April 23 – University of Southern Maine – Hannaford Field

Score: Castleton 12, Southern Maine 10

History: This was the eighth matchup between the two teams. The Spartans now lead the series 7-1.

The Records: Southern Maine: 3-8, 1-5 LEC ; Castleton 2-12, 2-4 LEC

The Goaltenders: 
Southern Maine: 
Nathan Plourde (Otisfield, ME/Oxford Hills): 13 saves, .520 save percentage

Castleton:
Chris Wilk (Rutland, Vt.): 16 saves, .615 save percentage

How It Happened/Inside the Box Score: 
-Ethan Esposito (Highland, N.Y.) scored twice in the first quarter, but strong defense from both teams kept the score at 2-0 in favor of Castleton at the end of the quarter.

-Castleton added four more goals in the second quarter and Schuyler Wetmore (Cumberland Center, Maine/Greely) scored his first of the game to get the Huskies on the board with five minutes left in the second quarter. 

-The Spartans defense limited the Huskies to 17 shots in the first half of play to hold them to just one goal.

-Castleton opened the third quarter of play with three consecutive goals, but the Huskies responded right back as Tucker Nussinow (Winthrop, Maine/Kent Hills School) got on the board. Griffin Weller (Canton, Conn.) and Nick James (Portland, Maine/Deering) traded goals at the end of the third quarter to make the score 10-3 going into the final quarter of play. 

-The Huskies' offense took control of the game in the fourth quarter as they scored four unanswered to open the quarter and brought their deficit down to just three goals. Esposito and Hunter Sarro (North Attleboro, Mass.) both scored to re-extend the lead and it would ultimately be too much for the Huskies to come back from.

-Wetmore had three goals in the fourth quarter, while Nussinow added two and Aman Zusner (Lyman, Maine/Massabesic) and Pini each got on the score sheet as well. 

-In the second half of play, the Huskies out-shot the Spartans 30-17 and collected 18 ground balls to Castleton's 12.

-The Huskies' faceoff team of Sourgiadakis, Cruise Lizotte-Johnson (Sanford, Maine/Sanford), and Caedan Poission-Bragdon (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston) won 20-of-25 faceoffs. They were led by Sourgiadakis who won 18-of-22.

Up Next: The Huskies will travel to Plymouth State for a conference game on April 26 at 6pm.