PORTLAND, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (1-0) toppled Maine-Farmington (0-1), 17-1, in non-conference men's lacrosse action at Deering Memorial Stadium on Wednesday night.
THE LEAD
Saint Joseph's set the tone early, as junior midfielder Mark LaPierre (Wayland, Mass.) scored his first of two goals off a Luigi Grimaldi (Portland, Maine) assist 5:18 into the contest. Sophomore midfielder Brendan Barrett (East Sandwich, Mass.) netted the eventual game-winner two minutes later off a Matt Donnell (Watertown, Mass.) feed.
Maine-Farmington found the board with a man-up marker with 11:06 remaining in the second quarter, as senior attack Travis St. Pierre (Sebago, Maine) found the back of the cage off a Cameron McAllister (Yarmouth, Maine) pass to cut the Monks' lead down to 3-1.
The Beavers failed to narrow the gap further, as the Monks scored three times in the second frame and took a 6-1 cushion into intermission. The third and fourth periods were all St. Joe's, as the hosts rattled off 11 unanswered tallies en route to the 17-1 victory. In all, 10 different players hit pay dirt for the Monks.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S
- Freshman attack Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass.) paced the SJC offense with three goals and three assists in his first NCAA contest
- Grimaldi netted a hat trick with a pair of assists and four ground balls
- Senior midfielder Jake O'Brien (Andover, Mass.) scored twice with two assists and three ground balls
- Sophomore Cam Boucher (Lewiston, Maine) notched two goals and an assist in his first collegiate game
- Donnell scored and dealt a pair of assists
- Sophomore Austin Havu (Buxton, Maine) picked up a game-high eight ground balls and won nine of 15 face-off attempts with two caused turnovers
- Freshman defender Raymond Emery (Abington, Mass.) tallied seven ground balls and two caused turnovers
- Sophomore goalie Connor Trainor (Franklin, Mass.) stopped four of the five shots he faced to earn his first win of the season
- Freshmen Ian Forbes (Dover, N.H.) and Tyler Retalic (Framingham, Mass.) also netted their first collegiate markers this afternoon
LEADERS – MAINE-FARMINGTON
- Sophomore defender Sean Zubrod (Augusta, Maine) led the Beavers with six ground balls and three caused turnovers
- Freshman midfielder Wesley McKenna (Bath, Maine) went 3-6 in the face-off circle with three ground balls
- Freshman midfielder Justin Roberge (Sanford, Maine) won five face-offs in 14 attempts with four ground balls
- Freshman goalie Caleb Carr (Augusta, Maine) made eight saves
TEAM STATS
Saint Joseph's held considerable advantages in shots (58-8), ground balls (39-28), turnovers (22-39), and face-off wins (12-8) with three man-up goals in four extra-man opportunities.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 5-0 all-time versus Maine-Farmington, a team the Monks defeated by an 18-3 margin last spring. St. Joe's is now 3-6 in season-openers – the opening victory is the team's first since the Royal Blue topped Husson, 14-4, on February 26th, 2013.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's returns to action Saturday when the Monks host the Vikings of Salem State University at Deering Memorial Stadium in a 4:00 PM start. Maine-Farmington is off until March 16th when the Beavers travel to University of Southern Maine.
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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 474-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.
