BANGOR, ME – Saint Joseph's College (1-1) defeated Husson University (0-1), 5-4 in overtime, in a non-conference men's lacrosse contest on Tuesday afternoon. Sophomore Jake O'Brien (Andover, Mass.) netted a pair of goals in the victory, which counts as the first career win for first-year Head Coach David Beriau.
The Monks opened with the first two goals of the game, as O'Brien scored an unassisted marker at the 12:02 mark of the first quarter and added a man-up goal 33 seconds into the second period to provide the visitors with the 2-0 cushion. The Eagles answered with a pair of goals from Brandon Corbo to knot the game at 2-2, which was the score heading into halftime.
As it played out, the Corbo scores were the first of four-unanswered markers for the hosts as Vinny Visconti found the back of the net 1:56 into the third frame and Dustin Brett lifted the Eagles to a 4-2 lead with 12:43 remaining.
The Monks came charging back as junior Alex O'Neill (Parkland, Fla.) made it a one-goal game with his first goal of the season, scored at the 9:15 mark, and junior Dalton Eldridge (South Gardiner, Maine) tied the contest at four-apiece with 6:20 left in regulation.
With few scoring opportunities for either team and the contest seemingly headed for another overtime period, junior Max Meserve (Kennebunk, Maine) scored the walk-off winner with 24 seconds left in OT, when he ran up the middle and finished with a shot over the left shoulder of Husson keeper Eric Lund.
Saint Joseph's senior goalie Ethan Rettew (Ephrata, Pa.) made 12 saves to earn the win between the pipes while Lund tallied 13 stops in the season-opener for the Eagles.
Junior LSM Tom Crawford (Westbrook, Maine) picked up a game-high eight ground balls and senior Jake Ricciardi (Sharon, Mass.) added a pair of caused turnovers in the triumph.
Saint Joseph's held a slim 26-24 lead in shots and was 18-25 on clear attempts while Husson owned a 33-30 advantage in ground balls and was successful on 18 of 26 clear bids on the afternoon.
With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 2-4 in the history of the series with Husson University. The Monks, which dropped four-consecutive games to the Eagles going into last season, have topped their in-state rivals in back-to-back meetings for the first time.
Weather pending, Saint Joseph's is slated to host University of Southern Maine at Deering Memorial Stadium on Thursday at 4:30 PM. Husson travels to USM for a 12:00 PM tilt versus the Huskies on Saturday.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
