Men's Lacrosse Edged by Bentley on Senior Night, 9-8
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.- The Merrimack men's lacrosse team suffered a narrow 9-8 setback to Bentley Tuesday evening at Warrior Field. The Warriors fall to 7-5 on the year and 4-4 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The Falcons improve to 6-4 overall and 6-1 in league contests.
Corey Lunney (Little Silver, N.J.) led the way with a hat trick. Nick Vazquez (Haverhill, Mass.) and Greg Melaugh (Billerica, Mass.) each tallied two goals on the night while Brad McAdam (Neshanic Station, N.J.) added one.
The two team alternated goals in the first quarter as Bentley netted three to take a 3-2 lead. The Falcons scored the game's first goal 2:28 into play with Nick Astarita's first of the contest. Vazquez knotted the score at 1-1 with 5:09 left to play.
Richard Travers gave Bentley a 2-1 edge with 3:35 remaining in the opening frame. Melaugh leveled it at 2-2 with 2:39 showing on the clock. Astarita restored the Falcons' lead in the final minute of the quarter.
Vazquez notched his second goal of the game with a man-up tally 18 seconds into the second quarter. Bentley's Steve Caditz responded with a man-down marker at the 12:47 mark of the period. Melaugh and Lunney both found the back of the cage to give the Warriors a 5-4 advantage at halftime.
Merrimack opened up the second half with its sixth goal of the evening. Nick Maggio (Winchester, Mass.) grabbed the face-off and took the ball down the field. Maggio flipped the ball to Lunney who ripped a shot into the goal to give the Warriors a 6-4 lead 12 seconds into the third quarter.
Bentley wrapped up the third frame with three unanswered goals to own a 7-6 edge heading into the final 15 minutes of action.
The two sides traded goals in the fourth quarter. Brendan Grant tallied the Falcons' fourth-consecutive marker 1:01 into the period, giving the visitors an 8-6 lead.
McAdam shrunk the Warriors' deficit to one goal, 8-7, with 10:09 remaining in the contest. Astarita's fourth tally of the game pushed Bentley's lead to 9-7 with less than four minutes left to play.
Lunney completed the hat trick with 30.7 ticks on the clock, pulling Merrimack to within a goal, 9-8.
The Warriors owned a slight 33-31 edge in shots on the night. The home team converted 1-of-5 extra man opportunities while negating four Bentley man-up chances.
Maggio dominated in the face-off dot, winning 20-of-21 face-offs while scooping up 17 ground balls.
Between the pipes, Connor Reagan (East Lyme, Conn.) made 10 saves in the game. Mike O'Neill stopped 14 shots in goal for the Falcons.
Prior to the opening face-off, Merrimack honored its five members of the class of 2011: Michael Balbuena (Falmouth, Mass.), Joe Broderick (Milford, Conn.), Phil Ketrelakes (Peabody, Mass.), Ben Preusse (Northboro, Mass.) and David Robinson (Lexington, Mass.).
The Warriors continue Northeast-10 Conference play Friday, April 22, as they travel to take on American International.
