SALEM, Mass. – The University of Southern Maine men's lacrosse team earned its first Little East Conference win of the season on Tuesday evening with a 16-6 road win over Salem State University. The Huskies were led offensively by senior Schuyler Wetmore (Cumberland Center, Maine/Greely) with three goals and three assists and senior Nick James (Portland, Maine/Deering) with four goals and an assist. Junior Andrew James (Portland, Maine/Deering) matched his brother's point total with two goals and three assists.
 
Salem State's offense was led by Connor Vittands with a goal and two assists and Timothy Eddings with a goal and an assist.
 
The Records:
Southern Maine: 5-7 (1-2 LEC)
Salem State: 4-8 (0-5 LEC)
 
Series History:
The two teams have now played 20 times with the Huskies leading the series 15-5. Southern Maine has now won the last nine games in the series.
 
The Goaltenders:
Southern Maine: Addison Dietz (4-6), 53:14, six goals allowed, nine saves
Southern Maine: Trevor Ouellette, 6:46, zero goals allowed, three saves
Salem State: Ryan Cohen (4-8), 60:00, 16 goals allowed, 19 saves
 
How It Happened:

• The James brothers led the Huskies to a 5-2 lead after the first quarter. Nick scored three goals while Andrew had a goal and an assist. Wetmore also scored for the Huskies and had an assist.
• Freshman Adam Coley (Valencia, Cail./Cheshire), junior Aman Zunser (Lyman, Maine/ Massabesic) and freshman Owen Gaulrapp (Windham, Maine) had goals in the second quarter for the Huskies with Andrew James assisting on Coley's goal and Wetmore recording the assist on the latter two.
• Dietz made three saves and held the Vikings scoreless in the third quarter while the Huskies' offense continued to rack up goals. Wetmore scored twice in the quarter and senior Omar Contreras (Portland, Maine/Deering) had a goal and an assist. Each James brother had a goal as well.
• The Vikings scored three unanswered goals to open the fourth quarter before the Huskies closed out the game with three goals of their own, all scored by freshmen. The first one, a man-up goal, was scored by Patrick O'Driscoll (Biddeford, Maine). Gaulrapp then added his second score of the game and Kaden Manning (Alfred, Maine/Massabesic) had the last goal for the 16-6 final.

 
Inside The Stats:

• Senior Cayden Poisson-Bragdon (Lewison, Maine) went 9-for-13 on faceoffs to lead the way for the Huskies. Freshman Mack Wilkins (Topsham, Maine/Mt. Ararat) had the best day of his young career at the X by going 6-for-10 on faceoffs with two ground balls.
• The Huskies led 32-22 in ground balls led by eight from Poisson-Bragdon. Nick James had four while Gaulrapp and freshman Lucas Rego (Dracut, Mass./Lowell Catholic) each had three.
• Rego led the Huskies in caused turnovers with three to tie with Salem State's Mike Zarro for the most in the game. The Huskies led in caused turnovers 14-9.
• The Huskies scored three man-up goals on five attempts while the Vikings only scored on one of their nine extra-man opportunities.
• Southern Maine is now 5-7 on the season with five games left on the schedule. The team's five wins are their most under head coach Sam Manders and the team's most since they won six games in 2019.

 
Up Next:
The Huskies host Vermont State University Castleton on Saturday at noon.