PORTLAND — Not enough shots, not enough goals, and ultimately, not enough time to do anything about it. Such was the lot suffered by Massabesic, which fell to Cheverus, 8-4, in an SMAA boys lacrosse tilt at Boulos Stadium, Monday.

Blanked in the first quarter, the Mustangs (3-3) knotted the score 1-1 in the second, then were outscored 7-3 the rest of the way by a Cheverus team that enjoyed plenty of shooting space, and plenty of time to make it count.

“We need to settle it down a little bit more,” said Massabesic (3-3) coach Mark Levesque. “When they pressure us, we need to handle the pressure a lot better.”

And there was plenty of that thrown at them by the Stags to handle.

Cheverus (4-3) led 1-0 after the opening quarter, but the margin might have been much larger if not for the work of Mustangs’ goaltender Colby Robinson.

Robinson made a fistful of timely saves while the game was still scoreless, including one on top sniper Ryan McQuaid.”‚

Robinson did let in a 40-footer by Doug McGillivray that made it 1-0 with 3:49 gone in the game.

But he made up for that by stoning Tyler Bishop whom he was eyeball to eyeball with.

“He (Robinson) kept it close,” said Levesque.

Close enough to allow teammate Greg Lodge to knot the score, 1-1, with 54 seconds gone in the second quarter.

Lodge came to within range of Cheverus goalie Justin Sheehan, then slammed home in a right handed overhand shot.

However, using their transition game with great effectiveness, Cheverus pressed the Mustangs hard, and turned the back-pedaling into a 4-1 lead.

McQuaid had two of the three Cheverus goals in that span.”‚

“Our middies forget to come back a lot,” said Levesque. “They just kind of jog back. But we never quit, and we were still in the game.”

The Mustangs pulled back to within two, 4-2, just before halftime, when a one-hander by Thomas Vigue hit the ground in front of Sheehan and rolled across the line.

However, that was as close as the Mustangs got.

Cheverus outscored them 4-1 in the third quarter to take and 8-3 lead and seize full command.

The Mustangs’ only score of that stanza came via Pat Wyman’s sidewinder from the high slot.

Wyman set up Jordan Levesque for the game’s lone tally of the fourth quarter.

— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535 ext. 318 or dhickling@gwi.net.