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Highlights
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College women's lacrosse team had a few early leads and went toe-to-toe with perennial power and defending national champion Adelphi, and despite ultimately falling to the second-ranked Panthers by a 16-10 final, the Warriors proved they could compete with anyone in an impressive display at Merrimack Stadium on Saturday. The game also marked the first home game of the season for the program, which was also playing at Merrimack Stadium for the first time ever.
The Basics
Score: Adelphi 16,
Merrimack 10
Records: Merrimack (3-2, 1-1 NE10) | #2 Adelphi (3-1, 2-0 NE10)
Location: Merrimack Stadium | North Andover, Mass.
Duration: 2:05
Rapid Recap
- Merrimack opened up the scoring at the 27:38 mark of the first half as the home side started off strong. The Warriors held three separate leads, answering the first three Adelphi goals of the game before the Panthers drew level with just under 20 minutes left in the half.
- Adelphi took its first lead (4-3) at the 17:41 mark before Merrimack answered again with 11:35 left in the stanza. They would do so again on the second goal of the first half from sophomore Olivia Colletti to make it a level game at 5-5, but Adelphi scored three unanswered to close out the period and took an 8-5 lead into the midpoint of the contest.
- The Warriors roared out of the locker room and scored the first goal of the second half on the stick of junior Amber Feminella after denying Adelphi of a shot attempt resulting in a shot clock violation. The Panthers answered with three straight goals to take what was their largest lead at the time at 11-6.
- Feminella and Colletti would then net three of the game's next four goals to trim the deficit back to three (12-9) with just under 10 minutes left. The Panthers, however, would close out the contest by scoring four out of the final five goals to deny the upset bid from the Navy and Gold.
Top Performances
- Feminella (4g) and Colletti (3g) led Merrimack's offensive output by combining to score seven of the Warriors' 10 goals. Junior Bridget Schofield also had a pair in the opening 15 minutes of the contest, while rookie Haley Bartlett also found the back of the net once.
- Both sophomore Gretchen Krall and freshman Meghan Dzialo led Merrimack with four ground balls apiece, while the former also caused a career-high three turnovers. Freshman Catherine Mahanna, meanwhile, led the team with four draw contrls.
- Sophomore Tammy Nguyen posted her third double-digit save performance in five tries after finishing with 10 stops against the Panthers.
Notes & Numbers
- Feminella added to her league lead in goal-scoring and now stands at 21 tallies on the season, five more of the next-closest player.
- She also ranks second in overall scoring, two points back of the league leader.
- Nguyen, meanwhile, moved into sole possession of first place in the league in total saves (46).
- With 10 goals on Saturday, the Warriors have recorded double-digit goal totals in each of their first five games, doing so for the first time since the 2011 season when they did so in their first eight games of the year.
- Merrimack's 3-2 start is its best five-game record since the 2011 season, as well; that year, the Warriors finished 12-7 overall.
- Adelphi held a slim lead in shot attempts (33-28) and shots on goal (26-22) while both teams committed 19 turnovers apiece.
- Merrimack would go 17-for-22 on the clear while Adelphi was 13-of-16.
- The Panthers outgained Merrimack in ground balls by three (20-17) and in draw controls by six (17-11).
Up Next
Merrimack will travel to Pace next Saturday for a 4 p.m. conference clash.
