LEWISTON – The piles of snow still rose high from the bright green turf, and it was cold.

Kyle Dussault took a shot off the inside of the upper thigh.

“I thought he was done right there,” Lewiston lacrosse coach Tom Fournier said. “He went down hard.”

Fournier had heard through the grapevine that a new player – a senior – was going to be trying out for the team this year, and he’d heard that this new player, Dussault, was at Bates’ turf, practicing.

“He had three or four guys just point-blank shooting on him,” Fournier said. “After he took that shot, I figured he’d be done for the day. Two minutes later, he’s right back at it. I said, ‘OK, this kid really wants to play.'”

Dussault thought it would be fun to join an indoor lacrosse league last winter.

Curiosity has turned into a potential run at an Eastern title, and a shot at states.

“After my second game (indoors), I was taking shots with John Collette behind the field, and the USM coach came up to me,” Dussault said. “He thought I’d been playing goalie my whole life, so I guess I picked it up pretty quick.”

Stopping the ball hasn’t been much of a problem for Dussault. Figuring out what to do with once he had possession, that was a whole other process.

“I remember I made one play in the Brunswick game (a 5-4 Lewiston win on opening day), where we were man-down,” Dussault said. “I went after the ball, and I guess a goalie’s not supposed to do that, and I took a beating behind the net. But I know more of it now, and I’m a lot calmer back there when I do have the ball.”

Dussault’s emergence has given the Blue Devils a luxury they haven’t had in a while: depth in net.

“We’ve gotten into situations in the past where we’ve had to play goalies who have never played before,” Fournier said. “It’s so big to have two good goalies.”

Alex Pare has split time with Dussault between the pipes this season. On Monday, both say action in a 17-2 rout of Cony.

The welts are piling up as the season wears along, but most of them, Dussault said, are from practice. At least, it feels that way.

“When you’re in a practice, it hurts so much more to get hit,” Dussault said. “When you’re in a game, there’s so much adrenaline running through you, you barely feel it.”

“You’ve got to be a unique individual to play goalie in lacrosse,” Fournier said. “He’s a unique kid.

“Every year, and this is one of the best things about coaching high school sports, every year, you get someone who isn’t even on your radar coming onto the scene. This year, it’s him.”