SALEM, Mass – The Buccaneer men's lacrosse team opened up their season on Friday evening on the road against Little East foe Salem State and they did not disappoint. Maritime led Salem at the half 11-4. When the dust cleared the Bucs had sunk the Vikings 23-9.

Inside The Numbers

For The Bucs

• Sophomore attacker Mitchell Maida (Burlington, Mass) picked up where he left off at the end of a shortened 2020 season with a game-high five goals, on eight shots on target, and two assists.
• Junior Spencer Jones (Hyannis, Mass) netted four goals and added an assist.
• Senior Captains Colby Unterstein (Ellington, Conn) and Alex Lucas (Walpole, Mass) each scored a pair of goals. Unterstein assisted on a game-high four additional goals. Unterstein was also dominant in the faceoff circle winning 17 of 18 faceoffs.
• Freshman Gage Coolahan (Abingdon, Md) scored his first and second career goals in the game while fellow freshmen Evan Doig (Bolton, Mass) and Jack Iversen (Hull, Mass) each netted his first career score.
• Senior midfielder Trey Guerrini (Foxborough, Mass) and sophomore Ryan Cameron (Franklin, Mass) found the back of the net twice and each added an assist.
• Rounding out the scoring, senior Braven Bose (Williston, Vt) and junior Peter Raei (Boston, Mass) scored once apiece.
• Defensively, Cameron McCarthy (Braintree, Mass), Patrick Lawson (East Sandwich, Mass) and Unterstein all caused two turnovers for the Bucs.
• Between the pipes, goalie Viktor Wright (Plymouth, Mass) stopped 11 shots, allowed 9 goals and picked up his first career win.

For The Vikings

• Hunter Spencer led all Viking scorers with three goals in the game.
• Preston Dougherty and Patrick Guinee each scored two in the loss. Guinee added the only assist for Salem.
• Aidan Hollingsworth and Kevin Albert scored one goal each to round out the scoring for the hosts.
• In goal, Jon Crutchfield picked up the loss having made 15 saves and allowing 16 goals.

How It Happened

Maritime wasted little time getting on the board and jumping out to a commanding lead. Maida netted the first goal of the season for the Bucs just over five minutes in to the first quarter on an assist from Jones. Just over a minute later, Maida found the back of the net for his second of three in the first. Over the next two minutes, Lucas snuck one past Crutchfield to put his team up 3-0. From there, Coolahan scored his first in a Maritime uniform. With just under six minutes left in the first 15, Maida scored in a man-up situation, giving the Buccaneers a 5-0 lead that they held to the end of the first period of play.

The on slot of Academy goals didn't stop there as they score two more in the first two minutes of the second quarter from the sticks of Unterstein and Coolahan to go up 7-0. Salem State went on to wipe out Wright's clean sheet when Albert scored to make it 7-1, then 7-2 three minutes later when Guinee found the back of the net. Senior Trey Guerrini scored his first of the new season on an assist from Maida with nine minutes to play before the break. Spencer jones added his first of the season shortly thereafter. Up 9-2, Guinee scored his second of the night for the Vikes to cut the deficit to six goals. Unterstein would add another to get his team over the double digit threshold with seven minutes left in the quarter. With under a minute to play, Maida scored his fourth of the night which was wiped out by Salem's Dougherty with two seconds left on the clock. At the break, the Buccaneers led the Vikings 11-4.

After the halftime breather, Maida scored his fifth and final goal of the game 40 seconds in to the half. That started a six-goal, seven-minute run for Maritime. In that time, Jones scored twice, Cameron scored his first two goals in a Buccaneer jersey, and Peter Raei rounded out the scoring. At that point it was 17-4 in favor of the visitors. With six minutes left in the third, Salem went on a little run of their own, scoring three unanswered goals to close out the quarter. Hollingsworth scored his lone goal while Spencer scored twice, both in man-up situations. At the end of 45 minutes of play, the Bucs held a 17-7 advantage over their hosts.

To open the final 15 minutes of play, Salem extended their run of goals to four with another from Dougherty. Guerrini broke up the Salem streak with 11 minutes left to play. Spencer added his third of the night for Salem which would prove to be their final score of the game. With the score 18-9, Maritime finished the game on a 5-0 run with goals from Doig, Jones, Bose, Lucas and a man-up goal from Iversen with a minute left.

When the clock struck zero, the Buccaneers were headed back to the Bay with a 23-9 win over Salem State.

What's Next?

The 1-0 Buccaneers next game is Friday, April 9^th at the friendly confines of Clean Harbors Stadium against Bridgewater State's Club men's lacrosse team at 7pm. Live stream of the game and live stats will be available at mmabucs.com.