PORTLAND, ME – The University of Southern Maine Huskies (2-2) toppled Saint Joseph’s College (3-3), 18-5, in a non-conference men’s lacrosse contest at Deering Memorial Stadium on Wednesday evening. Kody Peckham ’11 (West Gardiner, ME) and Dylan Chase ’13 (West Newbury, MA) both netted a pair of goals for the Monks in the losing effort.

Eight different Huskies found the back of the net in the one-sided affair and four USM players notched a hat trick, as Mark White ’13 (Oakville, ONT), Willie Joy ’12 (Portland, ME/Deering), Dan Thomas ’12 (Shrewsbury, MA) and Kayle Hamilton ’12 (Buxton, ME) all poured in three goals each.

Christopher Driscoll ’13 (Saco, ME) manned the net for the Monks and made 10 stops, while a pair of netminders Jacob Groom ’13 (Cumberland, ME) and Kyle Dussault ’12 (Lewiston, ME), split the game for the Huskies and combined to make seven saves.

The game was penalty-filled, as the in-state rivals combined for 25 infractions – 14 by the Monks and 11 by the Huskies. USM held the advantage in shots (56-27), groundballs (38-32) and faceoff wins (21-6) in the triumph.

Southern Maine staked an early 4-0 lead, as goals from Thomas and Joy and a pair from White put the Monks in a hole just 5:26 into the game. The Royal Blue responded with a pair of goals from Peckham and Benson Pasquarello ’12 (Kennebunk, ME) and trailed by two with 7:36 left in the first quarter, but USM proceeded to score seven unanswered tallies and carried a 12-3 cushion into the intermission.

Chase scored his first goal of the game 45 seconds into the third quarter, but the Huskies’ offensive effort was too much for St. Joe’s to handle on this night, as Southern Maine scored six straight to curtail the Monks’ hopes of a comeback.

Kyle Baker ’12 (Kennebunk, ME) corralled a game-high nine groundballs for the Huskies and Albert Comins ’13 (Newburyport, MA) gathered five groundballs to pace the Monks in the loss.

Saint Joseph’s will play at Husson University in a North Atlantic Conference contest on Saturday at 1:00 PM, while Southern Maine will play at Bates College on Tuesday at 5:00 PM.