Women's Lacrosse Falls At Home To #11 Stonehill, 18-10
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack women's lacrosse team was downed on Wednesday night at Martone-Mejail Field by the score of 18-10 by #11 Stonehill. Jenn Pino (North Andover, Mass.) led all Warriors with three goals.
Merrimack (3-10, 2-7 NE-10) returns to Martone-Mejail Field on Saturday for a conference game against Southern Connecticut State at 12 p.m. The Warriors will celebrate their senior day on Saturday for their six graduating players.
"I thought Stonehill played a great game last night and we hung in there for the majority of the game," said head coach Corinne Desrosiers. "In the second half we just had too many turnovers and missed opportunities which gave a talented team many more possessions that they should have had against us."
The turning point of the game came from the midpoint of the first half as the Skyhawks went on a 5-0 scoring run to take the commanding 8-2 lead with 13:42 to play in the opening half.
Pino led all Warriors with three goals on Wednesday while Olivia Huie (Norwell, Mass.) and Katie Trahanas (Longwood, FL) each recorded two goals and one assist in the loss. Tyler Szymanski (Framingham, Mass.) finished off her game with a team-high two assists and three draw controls while Inna Hedden (Woodbine, MD) made 15 saves for the Warriors in the loss.
The Skyhawks opened the game with three of the first four goals after 10 minutes of action as Pino was the lone Warrior to score as she beat Ashley Armstrong on her free position chance. Mia Rapolla (Gorham, ME) scored a nice goal as she was falling down to bring the Warriors within one goal, 3-2 with 19:54 to go in the first half.
Stonehill dominated the next six minute of action as they scored five quick goals to take the 8-2 lead with 13:42 to play. Pino ended the run with her second of the game after a nice pass from Huie led her straight to the cage. Huie made the score 8-4 in favor of the visitors just over three minutes later as she took a Liz Greeley (Norwood, Mass.) pass and beat the Skyhawk goalie.
The two teams traded two goals in the final six minutes of action as Huie scored her 33rd goal of the year and Giulia Palombo (Sandwich, Mass.) scored her 7th goal with 2.5 seconds remaining in the half, giving the Skyhawks the 10-6 halftime lead.
The teams traded three goals apiece to open up the second half as Trahanas scored twice and Pino picked up her third goal of the game for the Warriors, making the score 13-9 with 15:59 to play in the game.
The Skyhawks put the game away over the 16 minutes of the game as they closed on a 5-1 scoring run to give Stonehill the 18-10 road victory. The lone Merrimack goal went to Christine Keenan (Byfield, Mass.) with the assist going to Szymanski. The goal for Keenan was her second of the season while Szymanski recorded her fifth assist after a pretty pass.
The Skyhawks were led offensively by Kayla Green who recorded a game-high eight points while Kelsey Shannahan and Mary Lee Mahony each racked up six points apiece in the victory.
For the game, the Skyhawks held the 36-20 advantage in shots while they also held the slim 27-26 advantage in ground balls. Stonehill recorded 17 draw controls to the Warriors 13 but Merrimack was successful on 3-of-7 free position opportunities.
