Southern Maine Overcomes Salem State 11-7

Sophomore goalie Zach Bessette made 11 saves as USM defeated Salem State 11-7 Wednesday afternoon at Hannaford Field.

GORHAM, Maine -- The University of Southern Maine men's lacrosse team outscored visiting Salem State University 5-0 in the second half to overcome a one-goal halftime deficit and post an 11-7 victory in Little East Conference action Wednesday afternoon at Hannaford Field.

            The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Huskies and improved their record to 6-5 overall and 1-3 on conference play.  The Vikings dropped their fifth straight game to fall to 5-7 overall and remain winless in four conference outings.

            USM scored four goals in the first 5:33 of the third quarter to erase a 7-6 Viking advantage
and take a 10-7 lead.  From that point, the game settled into a defensive battle as USM sophomore goalie Zach Bessette (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) and SSU sophomore Kevin Lally (Beverly, Mass.) slammed the door.

            The first half was an ebb and flow of two-goal spurts by each team.  Junior Seth Wing (West Gardiner, Maine) and sophomore Nate DelGiudice (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) gave the home side a 2-0 advantage five minutes into the game.

            Rookie David Dempsey (Tewksbury, Mass.) scored a pair of goals 1:48 apart for the Vikings to tie the game.

            The tie lasted all of 28 seconds until USM sophomore defender Sam Hornblower (Portland, Maine/Deering) scored his first goal of the season.  After an SSU penalty, senior Austin Watts (Westbrook, Maine) fired home a man-up goal to make it 4-2.

            Freshman Thomas Lyons (Burlington, Mass.) scored a man-up goal at 2:53 for the Vikings to cut the margin to one, but USM senior Jeff Urmston (Bellingham, Mass.) responded at 1:21 to restore the Huskies' two-goal lead.

            Junior Alex Stokowski (North Hampton, Mass.) scored with five seconds remaining in the quarter to make it 5-4 after 15 minutes.
            The Vikings tied the game 5-5 early in the second quarter on a goal by senior Alex Pearson (Burlington, Mass.).  Senior Eddie Barrasso (Wilmington, Mass.) gave the Huskies a 6-5 lead at 4:57.
            Senior Ben Melaugh (Billerica, Mass.) tallied a man-up goal, and Pearson scored his second goal with 20 seconds to play till halftime to give Salem State its only lead in the game.
            Urmston led Southern Maine scoring three times.  Wing, DelGiudice and Hornblower each had two goals and one assist.  Bessette made 11 saves to earn his third win of the season.
            Dempsey and Pearson had two goals apiece to lead the Vikings.  Melaugh had a goal and one assist, and junior Steve Hanley (Waltham, Mass.) picked up two assists.  Lally stopped seven shots.
            Southern Maine had a 40-34 edge in shots attempted and a huge 45-18 advantage in ground balls.  USM freshman Josh Murphy (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) had a big day at the center dot winning 17 of 21 faceoffs.
            The Huskies hit the road this weekend traveling to Western Connecticut State University for a Little East Conference match on Saturday (12:00 p.m.).  Salem State will host the University of Massachusetts Boston on Saturday (5:30 p.m.) for a Little East game.