Men's Lacrosse Downs St. Anselm 11-7; Set for Battle with #2 Le Moyne Saturday
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack men's lacrosse
team won its fifth straight game Wednesday night, defeating Saint
Anselm 11-7 at Warrior Field while improving to 18-1 at home in its
last three seasons.
Now 7-1 on the season, 5-0 in the conference, the win sets up a
showdown with unbeaten and second-ranked Le Moyne Saturday
afternoon at 1 p.m. in Syracuse. Both teams, along with Bentley,
remain unbeaten in the Northeast-10. Merrimack visits Bentley on
Tuesday. Le Moyne was Merrimack's only obstacle in its Final
Four season a year ago, as the Dolphins defeated the Warriors in
the regular season, Northeast-10 finals and the NCAA Semifinals.
Merrimack trailed 2-1 after the first quarter, but scored three
times in a 2:26 span in the second as Brad McAdam (Neshanic
Station, NJ), Mark Webber (Mansfield, MA) and Nick
Vazquez (Haverhill, MA) each scored to put the hosts in
front before halftime. The Warriors forced 13 Hawk first-half
turnovers and overcame 15 first-half saves from Pat Acone to take
the 4-2 at halftime.
The Warriors exploded for three goals in the first 3:36 of the
third, two by Corey Lunney (Little Silver, NJ) and
the other from Bryan MacPhie (Scarborough, ME).
The Hawks didn't quit, cutting the lead to two at 9-7 with
8:06 remaining after a goal from Jeff Dunkle. But Greg
Melaugh (Billerica, MA) added late insurance with a goal
and an assist 38 seconds apart in the final minutes to put the game
away for the hosts.
“We came out a little sluggish, maybe due to the great
crowd,” said head coach Mike Morgan. “But our guys
recovered, and we found a way to win. Hopefully, we can push this
momentum forward into our big game on Saturday.”
Cory Spinale (Wakefield, MA), last week's
Northeast-10 Goalkeeper of the Week, stopped 13 shots and assisted
on McAdam's second-quarter goal in the win. The Warrior
defense picked up 22 caused turnovers, three each from defenders
Shane Mahar (Slingerlands, NY) and Peter
Schielke (Ridgefield, CT).
Melaugh finished with two goals and four assists, while Lunney
netted three goals. Nick Maggio (Winchester, MA)
continued his dominance in the faceoff circle, winning 14 of 21
draws.
