#9 Stonehill Blows by Women's Lacrosse, 14-1
Links: Box Score
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Freshman goalkeeper Alexa Petzold (Ridgewood, N.J.) shined with a career-high 10 saves, but the Merrimack College women's lacrosse team could not withstand the powerful ninth-ranked Stonehill Skyhawks, as the Warriors lost 14-1 from Martone-Mejail Field on Thursday night.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 1 | Stonehill 14
Records: Merrimack (3-3, 1-2 NE-10) | Stonehill (6-0, 4-0 NE-10)
Location: Martone-Mejail Field | North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
Second-year head coach Michael Daly took on his former program, as Daly coached the Skyhawks for 10 years from 1998-2007. Former Merrimack Coach Katie Conover manned the sidelines for Stonehill, her eighth season at the helm of the Skyhawks.
Over the first four minutes, Stonehill scored three times to jump out to an early 3-0 advantage. From there, neither team would score over the next 14:55 of game time. During that span, the Warriors controlled a lot of the possession, but a stout Stonehill defensive unit, with senior goalkeeper Ashley Armstrong playing well at the back end, prevented the Navy and Gold from getting off many good scoring chances. Merrimack's best chance came with 14:23 left in the half, when sophomore Meghan Wiseman (Arlington, Mass.) rang a shot off the post.
The Skyhawks scored another trio of goals over the final 9:46 to enter the halftime break with a 6-0 lead. The advantage certainly could have been larger, as Petzold tied her career high with seven saves over the first 30 minutes. The Navy and Gold were hampered by seven first-half turnovers, but they did win the draw control battle by possessing four of the seven first-half draws.
In the second half, the Skyhawks continued to pace the game. Cassandra McGill notched back-to-back goals to give the visitors a 9-0 lead with 26:11 to go in the game. Sophomore Danielle Riley (West Point, N.Y.) registered her fourth goal of the season and third in the last two games with less than 15 minutes to play, snapping the scoreless drought for the Warriors.
Stonehill tacked on four goals over the final 8:46 to come away with the 14-1 victory. The Skyhawks improve to 6-0 on the season, winning their first four Northeast-10 contests. The Warriors fall to 3-3 and have dropped consecutive games for the first time this season.
Inside The Numbers
- Stonehill held a 16-9 edge in ground balls, with five players collecting a pair of balls off the turf. The Skyhawks defense was stellar, limiting the Warriors to just 13 shots, including five in the second half
- Redshirt freshman Hunter McCarthy (Avon, Conn.) saw her five-game goal streak snapped due to some spectacular saves from Armstrong. All three of McCarthy's shots were stopped, two of which came off free-position opportunites
- Freshman Alexa Emma (Suffield, Conn.) appeared in her third game of the year, collecting two draw controls to tie for the team lead with Annette Ruggiero (Peabody, Mass.) and Valerie Dayton (Belmont, Mass.)
- Freshman Carly McKenna (Saco, Maine) made her first career start and led the team with three ground balls and two caused turnovers
Up Next
The Warriors return to action on Saturday out in Worcester where Merrimack will meet Assumption for a 3 p.m. first draw control.
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