#4 Men's Lacrosse Opens with 12-11 Victory at Florida Southern
LAKELAND, FL - The fourth-ranked Merrimack men's lacrosse team
opened its 2010 season with a 12-11 victory over Florida Southern
University Sunday afternoon.
Freshman Corey Lunney (Little Silver, NJ) led
the way with five goals, three assists and 13 shots in his
collegiate debut.
"We played hard and found a way to win a tight game," said head
coach Mike Morgan. "It's always tough to come out in an opener that
far away from home, especially when your opponent has played five
games. We didn't play our best, but the guys put it together when
they needed to. Hopefully, we can build on this and find some
success at Rollins on Wednesday."
David Robinson (Lexington, MA) broke a 3-3 tie
with a pair of goals in the second quarter before Lunney made it
three unanswered goals, giving the visitors the 6-3 lead early in
the third.
Lunney added two more to give the Warriors the 8-4 lead with
11:55 remaining.
But Florida Southern answered back, scoring four straight, three
by Cam Holding to tie the game at eight with 6:03 remaining. Lunney
then set up Brad McAdam (Neshanic Station, NJ) 36
seconds later to regain a lead they would not relinquish.
Bryan MacPhie (Scarborough, ME) and
Michael Balbuena (Falmouth, MA) then scored 34
seconds apart to extend the lead to 11-8.
Just when Merrimack thought the game was in hand, Florida
Southern scored three times in a 2:15 span to cut the lead back to
one, but the clock ran out on the hosts, and the Warriors prevailed
with the season-opening victory.
Mark Webber (Mansfield, MA) tallied a goal and
four assists, while Balbuena notched a pair of goals. MacPhie added
a goal and two helpers, as the Warriors were 3-for-3 on the
man-advantage. Nick Maggio (Winchester, MA)
controlled the faceoff circle winning 16 of 24 draws.
Merrimack outshot Florida Southern 46-26, including 26-7 in the
first half.
Cory Spinale (Wakefield, MA) made four saves in
the win, while Andrew Almansber stopped 17 shots in the loss for
the hosts.
Merrimack (1-0) continues its three-game road trip at Rollins
College (2-3) on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
