CASTINE, Maine – Maine Maritime Academy men's lacrosse fell to Southern Maine 9-7, on Tuesday night at Ritchie Field.

The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter before A.J. Larrabee (Farmington, Maine) connected with Nicholas Betti (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) on back-to-back goals to tie things up with a little less than eight minutes to play in the first quarter. 

Keegan Smith set up Seth Wing and Nate DelGiudice for a pair of goals to send the Huskies into the second quarter with a 4-2 lead.

Southern Maine scored twice in the second quarter to stretch their lead to 6-2, but the Mariners came out quickly in the third quarter when Jack Tragert (Naples, Maine) ran the ball in off a face-off and found Mike Fuller (Portland, Maine) for the Mariners third goal of the game. The Huskies responded with three-straight goals to take a 9-3 lead. 

Peter Moore (Scarborough, Maine) started the scoring for the Mariners in the fourth quarter, on an assist from Dean Samuelson (Ellsworth, Maine), sparking a four-goal run for the hosts.

Betti grabbed back-to-back goals for the second time to close the Huskies lead to 9-6. Bronson Guimond (Portland, Maine) sniped a rebound into the back of the net past Southern Maine goalie Zach Bessette to make it 9-7 with 2:02 remaining, but the comeback efforts fell short. 

With four goals, Betti now sits atop the Maine Maritime Academy record books with 141 career goals, breaking the previous record of 138 held by Christopher Keiley. 

Tragert ended the evening going 10-of-15 from the face-off and scooping up a game-high eight ground balls. Ian Larcom (Middletown, R.I.) led the Mariners on defense with four caused turnovers, while Samuelson scooped up five ground balls and Larcom, Tim Grant (East Northport, N.Y.) and Michael Dedian (Scarborough, Maine) scooped up four ground balls each.

Wing and Eddie Barrasso both scored a pair for the Huskies. Wing added two assists, four ground balls and a caused turnover. Smith ended his outing with a game-high five assists, while scooping up four ground balls.

James Wilgus (Phippsburg, Maine) stopped 15 shots in net for the Mariners, while John Bossi stopped three shots in the first half for the Huskies, allowing just two goals and Bessette recorded eight saves in the second half. 

The Mariners fall to 3-5 on the season, while the Huskies improve to 4-2 overall. The Mariners were scheduled to travel to Johnson State on Saturday, but that game has been postponed due to unplayable field conditions. The Mariners will return to action on April 7, when they host NAC rival Husson University at 7:00 p.m. for the Wounded Warrior Game.