GORHAM, Maine – Junior Rhys Bridges (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) and sophomore Pat O'Driscoll (Biddeford, Maine) combined for seven goals and 11 points for University of Southern Maine men's lacrosse team in a tight 15-13 Little East Conference loss to the Salem State University Vikings on Tuesday evening in Gorham. Bridges had three goals and three assists while O'Driscoll scored four times and had one assist. Sophomore Adam Coley (Valencia, Cail./Cheshire) also scored three goals for the Huskies. Salem State's offense was led by Grady Smith with four goals and three assists and Fisher Gadbois with four goals and one assist.
 
Senior Andrew James (Portland, Maine/Deering) and sophomore Owen Gaulrapp (Windham, Maine) each recorded a goal and an assist for the Huskies. Sophomore faceoff man Nick Shevchenko (Gray, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester) had an impressive performance with 20 faceoff wins in 30 attempts plus the first goal of his career.
 
Sophomore goalie Brycen Wolfahrt (Biddeford, Maine) made 14 saves in net but took the loss while Damian Biersteker made nine saves for the Vikings to earn the win.
 
The Records:
Salem State: 7-4 (1-3 LEC)
Southern Maine: 2-10 (0-4 LEC)
 
Series History:
The Huskies lead the 21-game series 15-6.
 
The Goaltenders:
Salem State: Damian Biersteker (5-3), 60:00, 13 goal allowed, nine saves
Southern Maine: Brycen Wolfahrt (2-10), 60:00, 15 goals allowed, 14 saves
 
How It Happened:

• Gadbois scored twice in the first three minutes of action to put the Vikings ahead 2-0 before the Huskies responded with 3-0 run to take the lead. O'Driscoll factored into all three goals by scoring two of them and assisting on a man-up score by Bridges. Connor Vittands tied the game at 3-3 with 3:52 left in the first quarter but the Huskies closed out the opening quarter with two goals in 1:02 to take a 5-3 lead into the second quarter. O'Driscoll scored the first goal from James and Bridges set up Coley for the second.
• Each side scored three times in the second quarter. Grady Smith set up a pair of goals from Cameron Smith and scored one of his own as well. O'Driscoll, Coley and Bridges had the scores for the Huskies. Coley's goal came after he pressured the Vikings goalie on a clearing attempt and managed to scoop up the ground ball and fire it into an open net.
• Wolfahrt made eight saves in the first half to keep the Huskies ahead. Three of those saves came in a 30-second span with the Huskies down a man.
• The teams traded goals in the first two minutes of the third quarter with Gaulrapp assisting on a goal by Bridges and Grady Smith potting a goal for the Vikings. Gaulrapp then scored a goal of his own to extend the Southern Maine lead to 10-7 before a 3-0 rally allowed Salem State to tie the game with six minutes left in the quarter. Smith scored twice in the run.
• Shevchenko won the next faceoff, took the ball down the field and fired a shot into the net for the first career goal to regain the lead for the Huskies despite being a man down. James then added another Husky goal to make the score 12-10.
• The Vikings came up firing in the fourth quarter with a goal by Gadbois from Landon Rice 16 seconds into the period. Rice tied the game at 12-12 with a goal of own and gave his team the lead off a feed by Gadbois with 6:49 to go. Vittands pushed the Viking lead to 14-12 with 4:47 left then Rice completed his fourth-quarter hat trick with another goal. The Huskies could not overcome the deficit despite a goal from Coley in the final 90 seconds.

 
Inside The Stats:

• The Huskies led 20-30 in faceoffs thanks to Shevchenko's  20 wins and 11 ground balls. Sophomore Lucas Rego (Dracut, Mass./Lowell Catholic) was also a key part of the faceoff unit and recorded a career-high seven ground balls with three coming on faceoff.
• Rego also forced two turnovers. Juniors Herb Bryant (Portland, Maine) and Wylie Fiutak (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) caused two turnovers each as well.
• The Huskies outshot the Vikings 39-37 but the Vikings led 29-22 in shots on goal.
• Each team went 1-for-4 with the extra-man.

 
Up Next:
The next game for Southern Maine will be an away contest at Vermont State University Castleton at noon on Saturday.