Vikings Sail Past Monks, 15-6

PORTLAND, Maine – Salem State University (2-0) defeated Saint Joseph's College (1-1), 15-6, in non-conference men's lacrosse action at Deering Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

THE LEAD
Salem State jumped out to an early lead with a pair of unassisted tallies from senior attack Alex Pearsons (Burlington, Mass.) in the opening six minutes and held a 7-3 advantage heading into intermission. The Vikings extended their lead to 12-3 with five unanswered goals in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Monks showed signs of life with three consecutive goals – including a pair of man-down markers from freshman attack Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass.) – to cut their deficit to 12-6, but Salem State Head Coach Trevor Eaton effectively doused the hosts' momentum with a time out. The brief stoppage seemed to refocus the Vikings' efforts, as the visitors closed out the game with three goals from senior attack Ben Melaugh (Billerica, Mass.) to account for the 15-6 final.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S

• Finn scored four of the Monks' six goals with two ground balls
• Sophomore goalie Connor Trainor (Franklin, Mass.) was excellent in net with a career-high 15 saves
• Sophomores Matt Donnell (Watertown, Mass.) and Luigi Grimaldi (Portland, Maine) also netted markers in the losing bid
• Sophomore Austin Havu (Buxton, Maine) picked up five ground balls with nine face-off wins in 20 attempts
• Sophomore Liam Skinner (Irving, Texas) registered three caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls

LEADERS – SALEM STATE

• Pearsons wrapped up the afternoon with four goals, five assists, and three ground balls
• Melaugh added four goals and a pair of assists
• Freshman attack David Dempsey (Tewksbury, Mass.) scored twice with an assist and two ground balls
• Senior attack Jacob Scordato (Milford, Mass.) netted a pair of markers with two ground balls
• Senior defender William Angell (Littleton, Mass.) scooped up six ground balls with five caused turnovers
• Freshman LSM Jason Marshall (Peabody, Mass.) contributed with six ground balls
• Freshman goalie Chris Schaub (Brewster, N.Y.) made 11 saves to pick up the victory

TEAM STATS
Salem State held the lead in shots (51-29), ground balls (33-20), and face-off victories (15-10) on the afternoon. The Vikings were 17-20 on clear attempts while the Monks went 11-15 in clearing bids in the losing effort.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 0-8 in the history of the series with Salem State University.

NEXT!
Saint Joseph's travels to Buzzards Bay on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup with Mass.-Maritime in a contest starting at 7:00 PM.