Box Score MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's lacrosse team broke the fourth and final tie with eight minutes left on a goal from sophomore attack David Borovsky (Burlington), and added an extra-man goal in the final minutes in a 9-7 win over the University of Southern Maine Saturday night in the Little East Conference opener for both teams at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex.
Eastern's (5-4, 1-0 LEC) 14th straight victory over Southern Maine (4-3, 0-1 LEC) was the most challenging yet and was the fourth straight victory this year for the Warriors, who evened their home record after losing their first two of the season in Mansfield.
Eastern scored the first goal of the match less than two minutes into play but never led again until eight minutes remained in the third quarter. The Warriors never trailed again after that goal by senior midfielder Liam Murphy (Dover, NH) but need to score the final two goals in the last eight minutes of play to hand the Huskies their third straight loss after four opening victories.
The ability to stay out of the penalty box and to win faceoffs propelled Eastern. The Warriors were flagged for only two penalties and enjoyed five extra-man opportunities, finally breaking through on the man-up when senior midfielder Cody Carbone (North Reading, MA) cashed in his third goal of the season with 2:17 remaining on a pass from senior midfielder Michael Dellanno (Wakefield, MA) that provided the Warriors with their second two-goal advantage of the contest.
Eastern junior midfielder Jesse Schulze (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) won 12 of 19 faceoffs to improve his season percentage to 51.7, and scooped up four ground balls. Senior defender Giuseppe Parisi (Danbury) won six ground balls and caused five turnovers.
Eight Eastern players contributed to the team's nine goals, with only Murphy collecting more than one. Senior midfielder Dan Vasquez (Newington) added two assists for the Warriors, his first setting up junior midfielder Nick Fernandes' (Fairfield) first career goal which cut USM's second-quarter two-goal lead to one, and his second finding Murphy for his first goal of the match which gave Eastern a 5-4 lead from which they would never trail again.
Senior midfielder Jeff Urmston led USM with four goals, his first three coming off feeds from junior midfielder Seth Wing. Wing doubled his season total with three assists.
Senior Blake Smaldone (Hamilton, MA) stopped 11 shots for Eastern, while USM sophomore Zach Bessette turned away 13. Eastern held a 40-27 advantage in shots.
Eastern visits Salem State University Saturday at 3 p.m. in a conference match.
