Southern Maine Men's Lax Cruise Past Thomas 20-3

Senior Nate DelGiudice (white jersey) had a goal and three assists against Thomas (file photo by Jason Johns).

Rookie Ethan Ouellette Has a Nine-Point Day
            GORHAM, Maine -- Paced by rookie Ethan Ouellette's (West Newfield, Maine/Massabesic) nine-point day, the University of Southern Maine men's lacrosse team scored 10 goals in each half to cruise past Thomas College 20-3 in a non-conference game Thursday afternoon at a chilly Hannaford Field.

            The win was the second straight for the Huskies and improved their overall record to 3-5.  The Terriers dropped to 2-3 on the season.

            Ouellette led all scorers with six goals and three assists.  His six goals were one shy of the single-game record, and his nine points equaled the third highest single-game total for points.

            Senior Seth Wing (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) had four goals and one assist for the Huskies, and rookie Joe Cullinan (Contoocook, N.H./Hopkinton) added three goals and dished off three assists.  Senior Nate DelGiudice (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) chipped in with a goal and three assists.

            The Huskies split the goaltending chores with senior Zach Bessette (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) playing the first half allowing one goal while recording two saves.  Rookie Griffin Hanson (Dover, N.H.) played the second half allowing two goals and making six saves.

            Senior Kyle Fletcher (Monmouth, Maine) led the Terriers with a goal and an assist.  Senior goalie Connor Lamberton (Shohola, Pa./Delaware Valley) was under siege much of the game and stopped 18 shots.

            Southern Maine took a 5-0 lead in the opening quarter and never looked back.  Freshman Cam Thibault (Scarborough, Maine) had the first and fifth goals in the quarter to bookend goals by DelGiudice, senior Sam Fortin (Brunswick, Maine) and Wing.

            Wing, Ouellette and Cullinan added second-period markers to push the advantage to 8-0 before Thomas got on the board with a goal from senior Colby Blondin (Colchester, Vt.).  Sophomore Tristan Dundas (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Ouellette scored for USM before the end of the quarter to make it 10-1 at the break.

            The Huskies piled up a 60-16 advantage in shots and had a 67-12 edge in ground balls.  Freshman Cruise Lizotte-Johnson (Sanford, Maine) had a big day at the center "X" winning 18 of 20 faceoffs and scooping up 12 ground balls.  Rookie long-stick midfielder Robby Pini (Natick, Mass.) picked up 11 ground balls.

            Southern Maine travels to the Eastern Connecticut State University on Saturday (1 p.m.) for a Little East Conference game.  Thomas will host New England College for a North Atlantic Conference game on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).