Saturday's Game: Maine Maritime Academy (6-6, NAC 6-1) at New England College (6-7, NAC 6-1), Don Melander Field, Henniker, N.H., 4:00 p.m. This is the regular season finale for both teams.
Series History: The Pilgrims hold a 5-0 all-time record against the Mariners, including a 3-0 record when hosting the Mariners.
Last Meeting: The two teams last met in the 2014 NAC Semifinals. The Pilgrims came out with a 17-9 victory to advance to the NAC Finals.
The Pilgrims spread the offense judiciously in the opening stanza, seeing five different players solve James Wilgus (Phippsburg, Maine). Wilgus, who was under siege for the duration, saw 19 of the Pilgrims' 48 shots on the afternoon fired in the first quarter. He turned away nine on the day. His counterpart, Chris Galluzzo stopped 15 of the 41 shots sent his way.
Adam Shute and Sean Largay posted hat tricks for the Pilgrims, with Shute adding an assist. William Pendleton, Skyler Saunders, Cam Scully, Liam Peck and Pat Miles posted a pair of goals apiece. Saunders helped out New England College on three other goals, while Miles added two assists to the effort.
After the initial surge, Maine Maritime scored three of the next four goals to make it 6-3 midway through the second. Bronson Guimond (Portland, Maine) and A.J. Larrabee (Farmington, Maine) got together 73 seconds into the second quarter to put the Mariners on the board.
Moore led the Mariners' offensive with a three-goal. Guimond finished the day with a pair of goals, while Larrabee scored one to go with his assist.
Maine Maritime dominated the draws with Jack Tragert (Naples, Maine) winning 15 of the 22 face-offs he took. Tim Grant (East Northport, N.Y.) went 4-of-5 in spelling Tragert. The Mariners also limited the NAC's top extra-man offense to a one-of-seven afternoon.
New England excelled on the clear, carrying 24-of-25 possessions gained from the defending to attacking third.
NAC Standings: With an undefeated NAC record Castleton sits atop the conference standings, followed by the Mariners and Pilgrims who both boast a 5-1 record, with each team falling to the Spartans.
Click HERE for complete NAC Standings.
Maine Maritime Academy's Last Game: Maine Maritime Academy men's lacrosse cruised to 21-1 victory over Maine-Farmington on Tuesday night.
Nicholas Betti (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) opened up the scoring for the Mariners, but the Beavers responded less than a minute later when Casey Wrigley snuck a shot past Maine Maritime keeper James Wilgus. The Mariners answered back with 12-unanswered goals to take a commanding 13-1 lead into the intermission.
Betti and Peter Moore led the Mariner attack in the first half, securing hat tricks in the first 30 minutes. In the second half the Mariners added eight more to take the 21-1 victory.
Betti finished with a team-leading five goals and two assists, while Moore ended with four goals and six assists. Mike Fuller recorded a hat trick while dishing out three helpers, Bronson Guimond and Dean Samuelson (Ellsworth, Maine) added a pair of goals, while JT DiGuglielmo (Milton, Del.), Alex Grant-Roy (Biddeford, Maine), Tim Grant, Kyle Thomas (Yarmouth, Maine), and A.J. Larrabee added the other scores for the Mariners
Defensively, Sam Bessey (Brunswick, Maine) and Alec Grant (Hollis, N.H.) chipped in with three caused turnovers, and Jack Tragert scooped up a game-high eight ground balls going 11-of-16 on the face-off.
Wilgus and Jacob Rondeau (Richmond, R.I.) combined for four saves in net, while Joseph Maldonado stopped nine shots in net.
Zack Rowland led the Beavers with five ground balls and an assist, and Josh Smith recorded a team-high three caused turnovers.
New England College's Last Game: The Pilgrims fell 10-6 to Castleton on Wednesday night.
Castleton outshot the Pilgrims 45-28 in the contest and picked up 31 ground balls as they improved to 8-6 and took sole possession of first place in the North Atlantic Conference at 6-0. NEC dropped to 5-1 in conference play and 6-7 overall as they won just 8 of 20 faceoffs.
The Spartan defense, anchored by goalie Sam Polas and defensemen Dillon Robinson, Ryan Crowningshield and Edward Doton limited the Pilgrims to zero goals and just 11 total shots in the entire second half. Senior Zach Davidson provided the offense in the team effort, scoring four times while picking up four ground balls. Sam Frackleton added one goal and two assists while Crowningshield led the defense with seven ground balls and four caused turnovers.
Senior Nick Herzog led the NEC offense with three goals while freshman Matt Richard scored twice and dished off an assist. William Pendleton added two assists and two caused turnovers.
It as the Pilgrims who came out firing as they scored twice in the opening four minutes for the early advantage. Richard made it 3-0 at 5:31 but Alex Denny put the Spartans on the board with 4:57 left. Davidson scored at 1:26 and Swarter tied the game 3-3 with just 23 seconds remaining.
Junior Zach Devoid gave the Spartans the 4-3 lead off a feed from Mike Ruggiero at 12:40. Back-to-back goals from Frackleton and Davidson pushed the lead to 6-3 with 10:57 left. NEC countered with the next two goals to close the gap to 6-5, but Davidson came through with his third for the 7-5 lead. Herzog brought the Pilgrims back within 7-6, and they went into the break down one.
The Spartans started the scoring in the third quarter as Nick Neugebauer found Sam Sigel right in front for the one-touch goal at 11:04. Davidson extended the Castleton lead to 9-6 with 8:24 left in the period as he came from behind the net on a nice individual effort. Zach Devoid finished the scoring in the quarter with a shot on the run from the left side of the net with 5:48 remaining.
In the fourth the Castleton defense limited the Pilgrims to six shots, while NEC goalie Chris Galluzzo was forced to make five saves to keep the Spartans off the board.
Galluzzo took the loss, as he allowed ten goals while making 14 saves. Peter Latulippe made the start and played the first 30 minutes, allowing six goals with two saves. Polas played the second half and stopped all five shots he faced.
The Mariners: Nicholas Betti leads the Mariners with 44 goals, while Peter Moore leads the team with 17 assists, and Jack Tragert has a team-leading 89 ground balls, going 143 of 213 on the face-off. Michael Dedian (Scarborough, Maine) leads the team with 23 caused turnovers and James Wilgus has stopped 128 shots in net, allowing just 101 goals.
Maine Maritime averages 12.67 goals per game, and 41.5 shots per game, while allowing opponents to score an average of 8.5 goals per game.
The Pilgrims: Skyler Saunders leads the Pilgrims with 32 goals, while Matt Richard leads the team with 31 assists and Asa Weisberg has scooped up a team-best 31 ground balls going 64 of 127 on the face-off. Cody Kitson leads the team with 17 caused turnovers and Chris Galluzzo has stopped 150 shots in net, while allowing 125 goals.
New England College averages 13.92 goals per game, and 38.5 shots on goal per game, while allowing opponents to score 9.77 goals per game.
NCAA Leaders & Rankings: As of 4/12 Nicholas Betti continues to rank 6th in the country among Division III players with 3.55 goals per game, and 12th in man-up goals. The Mariners are ranked 1st in the nation in ground balls per game (48.82), 4th in total ground balls, and 8th in caused turnovers per game.
Click
HERE to see Maine Maritime's complete NCAA Rankings.
