#4 Men's Lacrosse Holds Off #12 Molloy, 13-9, in Important Regional Win Saturday
Links: Box Score // Highlights
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Paced by a career-high 23 faceoff wins from sophomore Blake Boudreau (Amherst, N.H.), while classmate Sam Ventresca (Woburn, Mass.) anchored the defense with a personal-best 17 saves, the No. 4 Merrimack College men's lacrosse team held off 12th-ranked Molloy for an important 13-9 regional victory on Saturday afternoon at Martone-Mejail Field.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 13, Molloy 9
Records: #4 Merrimack (6-1, 4-1 NE-10) | #12 Molloy (6-3, 1-2 ECC)
Location: Martone-Mejail Field | North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
In the first meeting between the two schools in eight years, Merrimack and Molloy squared off Saturday with both sides looking to get back in the win column after losses in their last contests.
It was all Merrimack at the game's onset, as the Warriors outscored the Lions by a 4-1 margin in the first quarter. All four goals came from different players before the visitors got on the board with only nine seconds left in the period.
Junior Jack Trask (Colorado Springs, Colo.) restored the four-goal edge just one minute into the second quarter, but the Lions found their legs and reeled off three uninterrupted goals from the over a seven-minute span before sophomore Joey Diaco (West Deptford, N.J.) tucked in a nice wraparound goal with 4:29 to play in the half to push the Warriors ahead by two (6-4).
Molloy, however, would get another late strike with 96 seconds left in the quarter to trim the deficit to 6-5 heading into halftime.
After senior Andrew Walsh (Derry, N.H.) pushed the Warriors ahead with his second goal of the game at the 14:07 mark of the third, both sides would then play even lacrosse over the next eight minutes or so until the Lions reeled off back-to-back tallies to draw even for the first time since the game's opening minutes, as the score moved to 7-all with 3:39 left in the third.
But the Lions would never get the elusive go-ahead goal thanks to a downright powerful close to the third quarter by the Warriors. Freshman Michael O'Connell (Sudbury, Mass.) tickled the twine twice within the span of a minute off great feeds from juniors Max Allen (West Caldwell, N.J.) and John Bassett (Clifton Park, N.Y.), and sophomore Kyle Stenberg (Annandale, N.J.) would push the lead back to three with his first marker of the afternoon with only 15 seconds left in the quarter.
The Warriors would get two more insurance tallies by both Bassett and Allen in the opening two minutes of the fourth quarter to put the game away. The visitors would score just twice the rest of the way before senior Ryan Poirier (Warwick, R.I.) iced it with a late goal in the final minute.
Notes and Numbers
- Boudreau was the driving force behind Saturday's success, as the sophomore won a career-high 23 faceoffs on 25 attempts (92.0 %) while picking up 17 ground balls, also a personal best
- In net, Ventresca was equally stellar, turning away a career-high 17 saves to move to 6-1 on the season; his counterpart Ryan Toomey was also impressive, recording 20 stops
- Walsh's two goals were a career-high, while O'Connell tied his career-high in scoring with two tallies
- Other multi-goal scorers included Trask (2g, 1a), Poirier (2g, 2a) and Allen (2g, 2a), while Bassett finished with three points (1g, 2a)
- Senior Scott Corcoran (Haverhill, Mass.) finished with two caused turnovers, tied for the game lead with Ventresca
- EMO: Merrimack (0-4) // MOL (1-5)
- SOG: Merrimack – 33 // MOL – 26
- Ground Balls: Merrimack – 52 // MOL – 30
- Clears: Merrimack (14-for-18) // MOL (18-for-25)
Up Next
The Warriors remain home to host conference rival and fifth-ranked Adelphi University next Saturday (April 2). First whistle from Martone-Mejail Field is set for 12 p.m.
--
For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.
