PORTLAND, ME – In the first-ever Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse contest between Lasell College and St. Joseph's College of Maine, the Lasers proved the better team coming out on top with an 18-5 victory over the Monks. Nick Sampson (Londonderry, NH) paced the Lasers with four goals as well as assisting on Sean Speciale's (Hillsborough, NJ) game winner in the second quarter.
After the contest, the Lasers are now 3-6 overall this season and 1-0 in the GNAC while St. Joseph's levels out at 5-5 and stands at 0-1 in league play.
Goals by Chris Livelli (Hillsborough, NJ), Adam Foss (Billerica, MA), and Sampson shot Lasell out to a 3-0 lead through the starting 12 minutes of the first period. The Monks countered with two goals from Jonathan Horgan (Hingham, MA) and Zachary Chaisson (Concord, NH) in the final two minutes of the quarter to cut their deficit down to 3-2.
Just 15 seconds into the second quarter, St. Joseph's broke even with Lasell as Spencer Hunt (Jeffersonville, VT) netted an unassisted mark, but Lasell responded by knocking off three straight goals, including Speciale's game-winner, to take a 6-3 edge into the break.
The third quarter belonged entirely to the Lasers who rattled off seven more straight goals to cap a 10-0 run over a 29 minute span. During that time Sampson and Dylan Fernandes (Billerica, MA) each hit twice while Dylan Gray (Bayport, NY), Dan Clark (Scarborough, ME), Jon Elia (East Lyme, CT), Chris Bulkley (Groton, CT), and Livelli each scored once. Bulkley's mark was made with just one second to spare in the quarter.
The Lasers outscored St. Joseph's 5-2 in the final period with Fernandes and Gray each completing a hat trick and Sampson and Patrick Bresnahan (Manchester, NH) tallying one goal a piece.
St. Joseph's netminder Dominic Cesarini (Bow, NH) recorded seven stops in his first collegiate appearance in net. Elliot LaMarre (Raymond, ME) won five face-off attempts and collected a team-high five ground balls while Robert Murtha (North Kingstown, RI) added three caused turnovers on the afternoon. Ahmed Dorghoud (Woodbridge, VA) won 7-of-16 face-off bids and added four ground balls for the Monks.
Gray finished the game with four points, adding an assist to his three tallies while also picking up four ground balls. Foss prevailed in 11-of-17 face-off attempts and corralled a game-high 11 ground balls for the Lasers. Bulkley caused three turnovers, also a game-best.
Goalkeeper Eric Walsh (Weymouth, MA) registered six saves between the pipes for his third win of the season.
The 2011 campaign marks the first season in which the GNAC sponsors men's lacrosse. Both teams return to the field against conference opponents in the coming days. St. Joe's will host Mount Ida College on Wednesday, site and start time TBD. Lasell hosts Emerson on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.