Late Comeback Not Enough as Women's Lacrosse Edged by #3 Limestone 15-12
GAFFNEY, SC – The Merrimack women's lacrosse team scored seven of the game's final eight goals, but its comeback fell just short as #3 Limestone held on for the 15-12 victory Monday afternoon.
Trailing 14-6 with 26:21 left, Mary Pasquantonio (Plainville, MA) and Alicia Tinsley (Shrewsbury, MA) each scored twice while Liz Greeley (Norwood, MA), Jen Pino (North Andover, MA) and Colleen Strachan (Bedford, AM) also found the net, with five of them on free-position shots, but Merrimack ran out of time as the hosts held on for the victory.
The Warriors outshot Limestone 24-8 in the second half and forced 19 second-half turnovers, forcing Rashelle McLellan to make seven second-half saves.
McLellan made four saves in the final 1:46 while Strachan hit the post on a free-position attempt with 19 seconds left.
Merrimack fell behind 7-0 early, as the hosts netted seven goals in the first 9:21, four of them from Rachel Prager.
"Today's game was indicative of the 60-minute mentality we're trying to bring into the season," said head coach Corinne Baker. We lost this game in the first 10 minutes. We waited to see how Limestone would play, instead of taking our game to them. We picked it up in the second half, but you can't get 43 shots and only score 12 times and expect to win. We have some things to clean up but I'm confident our team will use this as a lesson for the future."
Pasquantonio finished with three goals and seven draw controls, while Maria DeStefano (Eliot, ME) scored twice. Pino also had a hat trick, scoring on three free-position shots, while Inna Hedden (Woodbine, MD), last week's Northeast-10 Goalkeeper of the Week, stopped five shots in goal.
Merrimack (3-2, 1-1 NE-10) visits Converse Thursday at 6 p.m.
