STANDISH, Maine – Senior Brendan Martin (Nashua, N.H.) netted nine goals to help Saint Joseph's College (2-0) defeat University of Southern Maine (0-1), 17-8, in what was the Monks' 2021 home-opener at the SJC Athletics Complex on Wednesday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Saint Joseph's held at least a share of the lead for the entire contest but did not build a comfortable lead until the Monks scored six unanswered goals over the final 21 minutes of play. Clinging to an 11-8 lead with 10:42 left in the third period, Martin potted his fifth of eight tallies and proceeded to hit pay dirt three more times before time expired with his team owning a 17-8 advantage.

BROKEN RECORD:

Senior Shane Puleo (Nashua, N.H.) broke the Monks career assists record when he claimed the helper on a strike by senior Alex Osmanski (Abington, Mass.) at the 6:11 mark of the 1st quarter. Puleo finished today's game with 81 career assists (41 games), three more than former teammate Brendan Barrett '18 recorded in 64 contests over four seasons.

TEAM STATS:

Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (48-32), shots on goal (33-17) and caused turnovers while Southern Maine posted the advantage in ground balls (36-34) and face-off victories (17-11) on the afternoon. The Monks were 24 of 28 on clear attempts and committed 21 turnovers in the win while the Huskies successfully cleared on 16 of 23 bids and turned the ball over 21 times in a losing effort.

THE KEEPERS:

SJC junior Michael Janocha (Southampton, Mass.) made five saves and allowed six goals in the first half to pick up the win while sophomore Brannon Gilbert (Gray, Maine) turned away four shots and yielded a pair of goals in the second half.

USM junior starter Josh Cahill (Bristol, Conn.) posted 16 saves and gave up 16 goals over 57:49 minutes and Nathan Plourde allowed one goal in 2:11 of play.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Martin scored eight goals with an assist, four ground balls, and two caused turnovers
• Puleo tallied three goals, three assists, two ground balls, and a pair of caused turnovers
• Sophomore Max Lacy (Salisbury, N.H.) netted two goals with three assists and three ground balls
• Junior Nathan Landry (Derry, N.H.) picked up five ground balls
• Senior Jason Barrett (East Sandwich, Mass.) added three ground balls and three caused turnovers
• Sophomore Sonny Marquis (Londonderry, N.H.) delivered three caused turnovers
• Freshman Adam Enscoe (Rochester, N.H.) was 8-for-18 on face-off bids

LEADERS – SOUTHERN MAINE:

• Junior Nick James (Portland, Maine) paced the USM offense with three goals and three assists and scooped up  a game-high six ground balls
• Senior Joe Cullinan (Contoocook, N.H.) tallied two goals and five ground balls
• Senior Tristan Dundas (Abbotsford, British Columbia) chipped in with a pair of goals and two ground balls
• Senior Cruise Lizotte-Johnson (Sanford, Maine) won six of seven face-off attempts while freshman Cayden Poisson-Bragdon (Lewiston, Maine) was 11-for-21 in the face-off circle

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 4-8 all-time versus Southern Maine and has now defeated the Huskies in three-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2018 season. The Monks' 17-goal output is the most scored by the Royal Blue in the history of the series.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's will host Bates College at 4:00 PM on Saturday while Southern Maine is back in action on Saturday, April 3rd when the Huskies open Little East Conference play with a contest at Western Connecticut State.

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