JOHNSON, Vt. – Johnson State College raced out to a 7-0 halftime lead and held off a feisty University of Maine-Farmington squad for an 8-6 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) men's lacrosse matchup on Sunday at Minaert Field. Johnson improves to 3-7, 2-6 NAC while Farmington now sits at 2-8, 1-5 NAC.
The Badgers received three goals and an assist from freshman Nash Garceau (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) (pictured) while senior Alex Petti (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) added two scores and as assist. Senior Justin Connolly (Jeffersonville, Vt./Lamoille), sophomore Matt Dekens (Johnson, Vt./Lamoille), and sophomore Ryan Belen (Northvale, N.J./Northern Valley) each recorded a single goal for JSC. Senior Justin Nelson (Lakeville, Mass./Bishop Connolly) dealt out three assists while junior Maxxwell Connolly (Rollinsford, N.H./St. Thomas Aquinas) and freshman Tyler Ask (Bristol, Vt./Mount Abraham) each had one assist.
Johnson keeper Zach Jerome (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) made seven saves in the win. UMF's Hunter Rowell (West Paris, Maine) played the first half and was tabbed with the loss despite a strong second half effort from Ben Altmaier (Wilton, Maine). Rowell made seven saves while Altmaier made six.
Farmington's Brandon Melville (Farmington, Maine) had two goals and two assists to lead the Beavers' charge while Tennessee Peters (Scarborough, Maine) had two goals and an assist. Matt Roy (Kents Hill, Maine) and Jon-Michael Roy (Kents Hill, Maine) each had a single goal and Ethan Fletcher (Waterville, Vt.), Nathan Chase (Wells, Maine), and Kris Gagne (Sabattus, Maine) each accounted for an assist.
The Badgers put up three goals in the first period and then four in the second to take the commanding seven-goal halftime lead. JSC earned a 24-9 shot lead over the first 30 minutes.
UMF would take momentum in the third period when Jon-Michael Roy took a feed from Chase just :45 seconds into the second half to get the Beavers on the board.
Following a Melville-from-Peters tally for Farmington, Dekens scored an unassisted goal with 7:48 left in the third period to make the score 8-2 and seemingly gain back control. But Farmington would score the game's next four goals over the next 16 minutes to make the tally 8-6 with 4:24 remaining and putting the result of the contest in question. The Badgers were able to hold off the Beavers though and pick up the much needed league win.
For the game JSC won the groundball battle 39-33 as well as the final shot tally 33-23.
Johnson will now face Green Mountain College on Saturday, a 1:00 pm home match, in their next contest while Farmington moves on to host Thomas College on Wednesday at 4:00 pm.