BIDDEFORD — After dropping its first four Commonwealth Coast Conference games this season, the University of New England men’s lacrosse team knew that it would have to win the final four to have any shot of qualifying for the end-of-season conference tournament.

Considering they’d dropped three of those first four games by a combined six goals ”“ including two in overtime ”“ it wasn’t an implausible task. And after Tuesday afternoon’s 16-9 victory over Curry College at the Big Blue Turf, the Nor’easters are halfway there.

“We’re fighting for our playoff lives right now,” UNE coach Charlie Burch said. “The good thing is, we’re playing a lot better.”

Especially on offense, as UNE (5-10, 2-4 CCC) has racked up 74 goals scored in the last five games ”“ a program record for any five-game stretch.

A major reason for that explosion is tremendous ball movement, which was on full display Tuesday as 11 of the Nor’easters 16 goals were assisted, including six of eight in the first half as UNE took an 8-4 lead.

“I really liked how we were very unselfish with the ball today,” Burch said. “We really set each other up well, the first half especially. Our guys were just sharing the ball and looking to set each other up.”

“I think we’re finally clicking,” added senior midfielder Dan O’Gorman, who scored twice and tallied two assists. “Our last two or three games, 75 percent of our goals have been assisted, which is great to see because it means we’re having much better ball movement on offense.

“And our shots were well-placed. It wasn’t anyone trying to do anything fancy, it was just good angles and ball movement.”

The Nor’easters’ shot placement was helped by a scouting report that said Curry (5-9, 0-6 CCC) goalie Daniel Martin tended to go low and leave the spots above his shoulders unprotected. So UNE went high, scoring well over half of their goals with high shots or bounce shots intended to go above his shoulders.

“We knew that their goalie would go down to the ground a lot and drop to his knees,” O’Gorman said. “So we would either throw a fake low and go high or shoot the bounce shot high (so) it would bounce up over his shoulder.”

Freshman Dan Auger led the scoring charge for UNE, tallying five goals and also compiling three assists ”“ both career highs.

Perhaps the rookie’s most important contribution midway through the fourth quarter, when after Curry’s Connor McKeon scored to cut the UNE lead to 11-7, Auger scored unassisted to push the lead back to five. That was the start of a five-goal run in a span of 4:07 that put the Nor’easters out of sight.

“He’s gotten more and more comfortable,” Burch said of Auger, who has started all but one game and recorded 35 total points, the second most on the team. “He’s been a great rookie for us, and he’s put together a great body of work this season.”

UNE now faces a major challenge when it hosts Western New England College Saturday afternoon. UNE has yet to beat the Golden Bears in 10 previous tries, including a 20-4 loss last year, but the Nor’easters know they’ll have to reverse that history if they want any chance of playing beyond next week.

“I think our team mindset is that if we win these last two games, we’ll have a spot in the playoffs, and as far as we’re looking at it, that game is a must win,” O’Gorman said. “We’re playing at home, it’s our senior day and our last time on the turf. We’ll be ready to play; you can’t be afraid.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.