#6 Men's Lacrosse Falls to #8 New York Tech, 6-4
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The sixth-ranked Merrimack men's
lacrosse team suffered just its second home loss in three years,
falling to eighth-ranked New York Tech 6-4 in a non-conference
matchup at a rainy and windy Warrior Field Wednesday afternoon.
Corey
Lunney (Little Silver, NJ) got the Warriors on the
board first, but the Bears took control from there, outshooting the
hosts 15-4, taking a 3-1 lead behind two goals and an assist from
Matt Sullivan. Cory Spinale
(Wakefield, MA) had 10 of his 16 saves in the first
quarter.
Merrimack cut the lead to 5-3 at the half behind second quarter
tallies from Michael Balbuena
(Falmouth, MA) and Brad McAdam (Neshanic
Station, NJ). New York Tech dominated the X, winning nine
of ten first-half draws behind midfielder Peter Raab, who won 10 of
13 draws in the game.
The Warriors controlled possession for most of the third,
outshooting the Bears 10-1 but managed just one tally, from
Greg Fallon (North Kingstown, RI) set up from
Jordan
Tiger (Ridgefield, CT) at 13:27 to cut the lead to
one.
Merrimack would turn the ball over 11 times in the second half
and failed to come up with any prime scoring chances down the
stretch as they were held without a goal in the fourth. Bryan Gil
pushed the lead back to two, 2:53 into the fourth with what ended
up as the final goal of the game.
“We had our chances but we struggled to put the ball in
the net,” said head coach Mike Morgan. “We turned the
ball over too much and they capitalized on their chances. We need
to regroup and finish the regular season strong as we head into the
playoffs.”
McAdam was the lone Warrior who had a multi-point game, netting
a goal and an assist to go with eight shots, but just one on goal.
In all, Merrimack had 25 shots but just 11 on net. Spinale stopped
16 shots in the loss and had 10 ground balls.
The Merrimack defense caused 12 turnovers, three each from
Shane
Mahar (Slingerlands, NY) and Peter Schielke
(Ridgefield, CT).
Sullivan led the Bears with two goals and two assists, while
William McGee had seven saves in the victory.
The loss was just Merrimack's second at home in the last three
seasons. The Warriors have never beaten NYIT in five career
matchups.
Merrimack (10-3, 8-1 NE-10) concludes the regular season at
Assumption on Saturday at 3 p.m. They will host a Northeast-10
Semifinal game on Friday, May 7 with the championship slated for
Sunday, May 8 at the highest remaining seed.
