#5 Men's Lacrosse Hosts #1 Le Moyne In Home Opener On Tuesday
FULL GAME NOTES (PDF)
THE PARTICULARS:
#5 Merrimack host #1 Le Moyne on Tuesday afternoon at Martone-Mejail Field in the Warriors home opener. Merrimack enters with a overall record of 2-1 and a conference mark of 1-0 after defeating AIC in their last contest while the Dolphins enter with a perfect 7-0 overall mark and 4-0 in conference. This is a rematch of the NE-10 Championship game from last season and four of the past five seasons.
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 12 goals and four assists while Greg Melaugh is second on the team with eight goals and one assist. Mike Perdie has been consistent so far as he has recorded four goals and four assists while Jamie Shand has three goals and four assists. Brandon Waiter is leading the Warriors with 12 ground balls and four caused turnovers. Patrick Coskren has has scooped up a team-high 18 ground balls so far this season while winning 27-of-61 faceoffs. Connor Reagan has a strong GAA of 9.45 so far this season.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
Le Moyne enters with a record of 7-0 and conference mark of 4-0. The Dolphins are led offensively by Tyler Prevost who has nine goals and 19 assists while Nate Frechette ranks second with 24 points. Chris Button leads the team with 16 goals and in net, Jeff White leads the country with a goals against average of 3.67 while winning all seven starts this season.
THE SERIES WITH LE MOYNE:
Merrimack has is 2-3 against the Dolphins in their last five matchups. Merrimack and Le Moyne have matched up in the NE-10 Championship game in three of the last four seasons with the Warriors lone victory coming during the 2010 season as they defeated the Dolphins by the score of 12-11 in overtime.
WARRIORS DOMINATE AIC FOR SECOND STRAIGHT WIN:
#5 Merrimack picked up their second straight and first conference victory of the season on Saturday at AIC as they downed the Yellow Jackets 15-4. Leading the Warriors offensive attack was senior Corey Lunney who finished with five goals and two assists while Mike Perdie finished off his game with three goals and a assist. The Merrimack defense came up big as they did not allow the Yellow Jackets to score a goal for over a quarter and a half between the second and fourth periods. Connor Reagan gave the Warriors a strong effort in goal, making four saves while allowing three goals and Jimmy Holland played well defensively with three ground balls scooped up. Patrick Coskren continued to imporve in the faceoff circle winning 10-of-14 faceoffs.
LUNNEY LEADS FOUR WARRIORS WITH MULTI-GOAL GAMES:
The division II Preseason Player of the Year, Corey Lunney led four Warriors with multi-goal games on Saturday with five goals and two assists. Mike Perdie finished with three goals while Greg Melaugh and Paul Jones both netted two goals. Lunney now ranks third in the country in goals per game (4.0). Lunney also ranks fourth in the country in points per contest (5.33) and ranks second in Merrimack history with 142 career goals.
DEFENSE COMES UP BIG AGAINST YELLOW JACKETS:
The Merrimack defense stood tall against AIC on Saturday as they forced a season-high 22 turnovers by the Yellow Jackets including forcing seven. Greg Melaugh forced a team-high two turnovers while Jimmy Holland scooped up a team-high three ground balls in the win.
MAN UP OFFENSE RANKS FOURTH IN THE COUNTRY:
After a poor showing in the season opener, the Merrimack man up offense has played well, scoring six goals in the last two games. For the seaso, Merrimack is 9-for-21 on their man up chances which is good for 42.9 percent and fourth place in the country. Greg Melaugh leads the Warriors with four man up goals.
WARRIORS RANK SECOND IN TURNOVERS PER CONTEST:
The Warriors have been taking care of the ball so far this season as they rank second in the country in turnovers per game averaging only 12.67. The Warriors only trail Seton Hill (10.86) for first place in the country. The Warriors recorded a season-low seven turnovers agains the Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
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.
FACEOFFS KEY TO SUCCESS:
The key to the game on Tuesday for Merrimack will be the faceoff circle. Le Moyne faceoff man Kam Bumpus ranks first in the country in faceoff percentage (72%) while Merrimack faceoff specialist Patrick Coskren enters with a faceoff win percentage of 44%. Merrimack will need to win that battle to beat #1 Le Moyne.
BEATING THE NUMBER ONE TEAM IN THE COUNTRY:
The Merrimack Warriors are no stranger to beating the number one ranked team in the country. The Warriors have won two straight games against Le Moyne as the #1 team in the land. During the 2011 season, Merrimack defeated #1 Le Moyne in the NE-10 semifinals and in 2010 the Warriors defeated #1 Le Moyne by the score of 12-11 in overtime to clinch their first NE-10 Championship under Mike Morgan.
MORGAN FIRST COACH TO 50 WINS IN DIVISION II HISTORY:
Mike Morgan's first four seasons on the Warriors sidelines were as successful as any Division II men's lacrosse coach ever. On May 6, 2011 when the Warriors defeated Le Moyne, Morgan became the first coach to ever win 50 games in four seasons. Morgan is one of only six coaches to win 50 games in five seasons. Morgan currently possesses a career coaching record of 65-20 which is a winning percentage of 76.5 percent.
MERRIMACK TO WEBCAST ALL HOME GAMES:
All five Merrimack lacrosse home games will be streamed live online for the upcoming 2013 season. This is the first time the Warriors home games will be streamed. Each game can be purchased online for $8 per game. The webcast will also include play-by-play and color analysis of the games.
