#1 Men’s Lacrosse Opens League Slate with Saint Rose

Date	Saturday, March 17, 2018 (1 p.m.)
Matchup	#1 Merrimack (3-0, 0-0 NE10) Saint Rose (1-3, 0-0 NE10)
Location	Merrimack Stadium North Andover, Mass.
Multimedia	Home: Live Stats // Video
Social	@MerrimackMLAX // Instagram

 
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's lacrosse team opens its Northeast-10 Conference slate against the College of Saint Rose on Saturday (March 17). Game time from Merrimack Stadium is set for 1 p.m.

BEER GARDENS AVAILABLE FOR HOME GAMES
Merrimack is pleased to offer a 21 Beer Garden on the stadium patio for all home men's lacrosse games (opposite the press box side, closest to the Merrimack Athletics Complex). The patio opens one hour before faceoff and closes at the end of the third quarter. Light snacks are also available for purchase. 

Inside the Series:

• Merrimack owns a 6-0 all-time record against Saint Rose.
• The smallest margin of victory in any of those games has been eight goals (15-7, 12-4, 11-3).
• Last year, the Warriors stormed by the Golden Knights by 11 goals, winning by a 19-8 margin on the road in early April of 2017.

Last Time Out:

• After finding itself tied with 12^th-ranked LIU Post late in the first half, Merrimack scored the next 11 goals and shut out the visitors in the second half en route to a 15-4 victory.
• Merrimack built an early two-goal lead, but the Pioneers would score two out of the remaining three first-quarter goals, including one with just 14 seconds left in the frame, to make it a 3-2 lead for the Warriors heading to the second.
• LIU Post tied it up early in the second, but Merrimack answered halfway through the quarter to go back up by a goal. The Pioneers had another response, tying the game at 4-all with just over two minutes left in the half. That, however, was the last time LIU Post would find the back of the net. Merrimack would take a two-goal lead into halftime with a pair of late strikes, and that momentum would stay with the home side the rest of the way.
• The Warriors would have all six goals in the third quarter, with two apiece coming from senior Jack Trask and sophomore Charlie Bertrand, as the Warriors tallied their second man-up goal of the game during that stretch as well to make it a 12-4 lead after 45 minutes. Merrimack added three more out to round out the victory in the fourth.

Poll Watch:

• Merrimack, which earned its first-ever No. 1 national ranking in the USILA/Nike 2017 Division II Coaches' Poll last April, started the 2018 season in the No. 2 spot before rising to No. 1 in the first weekly poll of the nation's top-20 programs, and the Warriors have stayed there since.
• As is usually the case, the Warriors will face plenty of the nation's top programs this year, as six other schools that are on Merrimack's schedule are also ranked in this week's poll.
• The Warriors have already NYIT (ranked eighth when they played) and LIU Post (12); they are yet to face Le Moyne (2), Pace (3), Adelphi (T-8) and Saint Anselm (17).

'Mack Facts:

• Merrimack is off to a 3-0 start on the year thanks to a torrid offense that averages 15.6 goals per game (7^th/NCAA).
• Freshman Sean Black (20 points) and sophomore Charlie Bertrand (16 points) lead all Warriors on the offensive front; the former's 13 assists lead the squad by a wide margin, while the latter has netted a team-best 12 goals, the only player on the team in double-digit goal-scoring figures.
• They rank second and fourth, respectively, in the NE10 in scoring; Bertrand ranks second in total goals in the conference while Black paces the conference in assists.
• Senior Blake Boudreau has won 49-of-79 on the X (.620) as Merrimack's primary faceoff man and he leads the team with 24 ground balls.
• Three different Warriors share the team lead with four caused turnovers.
• In net, senior Mitch Green had played the first two games before freshman Peter Brown started last Saturday and recorded eight saves in 60 minutes of work.
• Merrimack has won the last 15 games it has scored 11 or more goals in; its last loss when posting a double-digit scoring total was in double overtime against Le Moyne (12-11) on March 18, 2017.

Scouting Saint Rose:

• Saint Rose heads into the weekend with one win through four games, with its lone victory coming at Post (14-5) last Tuesday.
• Saint Rose average just 8.50 goals per game while allowing 9.00, good for a defensive unit that ranks in the top-22 nationwide.
• Matt Graham (12 points), Jordyn Marchiano and Carter Badour all lead the Golden Knights in scoring and are above the 10-point threshold.
• Lucas Frese is among the nation's top faceoff men, ranking 12^th nationally with wins in 62.8 percent of his faceoff attempts.
• James Murphy has caused a team-high four turnovers; Graham, meanwhile, leads the team with 14 ground balls.

Inside the Matchup:

#1 Merrimack (2-0, 0-0 NE10)	Category	Saint Rose (1-3, 0-0 NE10)
3/3 vs. #RV Lake Erie (W, 16-11) 3/10 vs. #12 LIU Post (W, 15-4)	Recent Games	3/6 at Post (W, 14-5) 3/9 vs. Florida Southern (L, 9-10)
15.67 (7th/NCAA)	Scoring Offense	8.50
9.67	Scoring Defense	9.00
54.5% (5th)	Man-Up Offense	50.0%
83.3%	Man-Down Defense	82.1%
47/129 (.364)	Goals/Shot Attempts (Sh. Pct.)	34-112 (.304)
31.00	Ground Balls/Game	28.00
13.33	Turnovers/Game	15.00
7.00	Caused Turnovers/Game	5.75
62.8%	Faceoff Pct.	60.2%
88.0%	Clearing Pct.	84.7%

 
Up Next
Merrimack heads to Syracuse to take on second-ranked Le Moyne in a rematch of last year's NCAA Championship Semifinal next Saturday (March 24) beginning at 11 a.m.