#7 Men's Lacrosse Looks For First Conference Win On Saturday At AIC
FULL GAME NOTES (PDF)
THE PARTICULARS:
#7 Merrimack will travel to Springfield for thei first conference game of the young season on Saturday as they will take on the American International Yellow Jackets at 1 p.m. The Warriors come into the contest after defeating Lake Erie 11-10 in their last contest behind four goals from Corey Lunney. AIC enters the contestlosing three straight games including two conference clashes.
ABOUT MERRIMACK:
The highest scoring teammates in the country from last season continue to find the back of the net for the Warriors as Corey Lunney leads the team with seven goals and two assists while Greg Melaugh is second on the team with six goals. Jamie Shand is off to a nice start in 2013 as he has racked up three goals and two assists for the Warriors while senior Mike Perdie leads the team with three assists to go along with one goal. Defensively the Warriors are led by Brandon Waiter who has racked up 10 ground balls and three caused turnovers while faceoff man Patrick Coskren is tied for the team lead with 10 ground balls and going 17-for-47 on his faceoff attempts.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
American International enters the contest with a overall record of 1-5 and a conference mark of 0-2 after dropping their last two contest to Bentley and Le Moyne. The Yellow Jackets are led offensively by Nick Amendt who has nine goals and one assist and Jeff Sienkiewicz is second on the team with seven goals and two assists. Brian Kennedy leads the team with 20 ground balls and has won 32-of-67 faceoffs.
THE SERIES WITH AIC:
Merrimack has won five straight contests against the Yellow Jackets dating back to the 2008 season. The Warriors average margin of victory in those five games is 11.75 goals per contest.
WARRIORS GET BACK ON TRACK AT LAKE ERIE:
#7 Merrimack picked up their first win of the 2013 season last Saturday as they defeated the Lake Erie Storm by the score of 11-10. The Warriors took a two goal lead with five minutes to play as Jamie Shand found the back of the net. The Storm came back and scored a goal but Shand's tally was the game-winner. Senior captain Corey Lunney continued his hot start to the season as he finished with a team-high four goals and a assist in the win including two fourth period goals to propel the Warriors. Greg Melaugh scored two more goals and Shand finished with two goals and a assist. Defensively, Brand Waiter continued his solid play as he finished with four ground balls while Connor Whittemore came off the bench and scooped up three ground balls.
LUNNEY CONTINUES TO LEAD WARRIORS OFFENSE:
The division II Preseason Player of the Year, Corey Lunney continued to lead the Warriors offense on Saturday as he finished with four goals and a assist. Lunney now ranks third in the country in goals per game (3.5). Lunney also ranks eighth in the country in points per contest (4.5) and ranks second in Merrimack history with 137 career goals.
COSKREN WINS THE FACEOFF BATTLE:
After a rough season opener in the faceoff circle, Patrick Coskren got back on track on Saturday as he finished the game going 12-for-22 in the circle. Coskren also led all players with eight ground balls in the win for the Warriors. Coskren has now won 17-of-47 draws which is 36 percent.
FIVE GOAL FOURTH QUARTER PROPELS MERRIMACK:
Entering the fourth period the Warriors had thier backs against the wall as they were trailing the Storm 8-6. Trailing by two to start the final frame, Merrimack turned to their two all-americans, Corey Lunney and Greg Melaugh. Melaugh opened the scoring in the fourth just over two minutes in. Lunney then scored two straight goals followed by another Melaugh markerto give the Warriors the 10-8 lead which the Warriors would not give back. Melaugh and Lunney scored four goals while Jamie Shand got the game-winner.
REAGAN COMES THROUGH WITH SOME BIG SAVES:
With the one goal lead with less than 30 seconds to go, senior goalie Connor Reagan made arguably the biggest save of his career on a point blank shot. Reagan made the huge stick save and finished off the win for the Warriors with 10 saves. Reagan outshined his counterpart in the big victory for Merrimack.
HOME WARRIORS:
The Warriors went a perfect 6-0 at home last season, while averaging 12.5 goals per contest, including a win in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament against #5 Adelphi by the score of 13-12. Over the past five seasons the Warriors are among the best in the country at home, owning a 30-4 record. The Warriors have not lost more than two home games in any season since the 2007 campaign when they went 4-3 on their home turf.
