On a day that saw brisk weather conditions, the St. Joseph’s College men’s lacrosse team prevailed in a physical game as they used excellent goaltending and took advantage of USM penalties to down the Huskies 6-5 at Deering High School’s Memorial Field on Monday night.
St. Joe’s sophomore goalie Christopher Driscoll recorded 15 saves on 43 shots by the Huskies, including four in the third period and six in the fourth period to stop a USM team that edged them 43-24 in shot attempts.
St. Joe’s junior Benson Pasquarello spearheaded the Monks offensively as he buried two goals and added an assist to help the Monks earn their first win of the season. Sophomore Spencer Hunt and junior Jonathan Horgan also scored goals for St. Joe’s and combined for three assists.
“First and foremost, it was disappointing,” USM Head Coach Malcolm Chase said. “St. Joe’s is usually a team we can handle, but that’s taking nothing away from them today. They were fired up and played well.”
Hunt broke a 13-minute scoring drought in the first period as he came from behind the net to score an unassisted goal, putting the Monks up 1-0.
St. Joe’s struck again early in the second period when junior Paul Dolewa took a pass from Hunt to score his third goal of the season and give the Monks a 2-0 lead. USM tri-captain, junior Kayle Hamilton (Buxton) bounced back for the Huskies a little over a minute and a half later to cut the St. Joe’s lead to one with a unassisted goal.
With 2:37 remaining in the second period, St. Joe’s Head Coach Mike Edgar called a timeout and it paid off. Less than 30 seconds out of the timeout Pasquarello scored a man-up goal, assisted by Hunt, to give the Monks a commanding 3-1 lead heading into halftime.
The Huskies seemed to gain some urgency coming out of halftime, as Hamilton netted his second goal of the contest less than a minute and a half into the third period at the 13:39 mark, making the score 3-2.
The two teams went back and forth over the next 13 minutes of the third, but Horgan drowned USM’s hopes of tying the score with a goal with 31.6 seconds remaining.
The fourth quarter featured physical play in cold and slick conditions, and ample scoring opportunities for both teams. The Monks struck first at the 12:22 mark when Pasquarello took an assist from Horgan for his second goal to increase their lead to 5-2.
Hamilton answered right back a little over a minute later, though, as he cut through the St. Joe’s defense for an unassisted goal, marking his third of the contest.
USM received a one-minute penalty with 8:34 remaining in the game, and St. Joe’s freshman Zach Chaisson took advantage as he scored his first career goal, a man-up goal that gave them a 6-3 lead.
Again, USM fought right back after a St. Joe’s slashing penalty with 7:07 to play on a man-up goal from sophomore Marc Stannard (Wilder, VT) and tallied another on an unassisted goal from sophomore Mike Orlando (Hanover, Mass.) a little over three minutes later, but it wasn’t enough in the end as Driscoll denied multiple scoring attempts by the Huskies in the final seconds.
“Today was a physical battle and St. Joe’s controlled the tempo of the game,” Chase said. “We struggled with our team offense, especially with our passes. It was tough to get anything going.”
The men’s lacrosse team will be back in action on Thursday, as they will travel to Biddeford to take on University of New England in a 4 p.m. start.