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Highlights
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Junior
Amber Feminella became the ninth player in school history to hit the century mark in career scoring, netting her 100
th tally as a Warrior early in the game, as the rest of the No. 21 Merrimack College women's lacrosse team bounced back with a thorough 14-7 victory against Southern New Hampshire in a Tuesday afternoon Northeast-10 Conference matchup at Merrimack Stadium.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 14, Southern N.H. 7
Records: #21 Merrimack (4-3, 2-2 NE10) | Southern N.H. (1-6, 0-3 NE10)
Location: Merrimack Stadium | North Andover, Mass.
Duration: 2:11
Rapid Recap
- Merrimack raced out of the gate by scoring the first two goals, including a strike from senior captain Annette Ruggiero just 39 seconds into the game, before Feminella hit the career century mark with 22 minutes even left in the half.
- That prompted the beginning of a back-and-forth stretch of 20-plus minutes, as the two teams traded goals before SNHU drew even at 3-3 with 12:47 left. Feminella would get her hat trick and freshman Catherine Mahanna also scored to push the Warriors back up by two (5-3) with 8:24 left, and the schools would trade two more tallies apiece to send Merrimack into the break up by a 7-5 margin, with Feminella getting both of those Warrior markers.
- Merrimack had a nearly identical start to the second half as it did in the first, this time with junior Bridget Schofield pushing the Warrior lead to 8-5 just 28 seconds in.
- Each team went goal-for-goal over the next seven minutes before a lull of nearly 12 minutes saw neither side find a goal.
- Senior captain Carly McKenna snapped that stretch with her fourth goal of the year to give Merrimack its largest lead of the afternoon (11-7) with 9:18 left, and the Warriors would net three more to close out it out off the sticks of Schofield (twice) and sophomore Ally DaCosta.
Top Performances
- It was only appropriate that Feminella post Merrimack's top offensive performance on Tuesday, as the junior tied her career-high with six goals and finished with seven points overall, one goal off her career-high.
- Schofield was next with four goals – one off her personal best mark – while four different Warriors each recorded a goal apiece.
- Freshman defender Kelsey Daly led the Warriors with three ground balls and shared the team lead with two caused turnovers, one that four different players also recorded: Schofield, Mahanna, and sophomore Gretchen Krall.
- Mahanna also continued her impressive season in the circle, leading the team with three draw controls.
- Sophomore Tammy Nguyen started the game before junior Lauren Trepaney saw her first action of the season in the second half, as both finished with two saves apiece.
Notes & Numbers
- Feminella became the ninth player in program history to reach the century club in career goal-scoring; she hit 100 career points earlier in the year.
- Feminella also added to her league lead in goal-scoring and now stands at 31 tallies on the season, seven more of the next-closest player. She also ranks second in overall scoring with 37 points on the year. She also tied for the highest scoring output both in terms of total points and total goals by a Merrimack player in a game this year.
- Nguyen now ranks fifth in the league with a 11.69 goals against average on the year.
- Merrimack had another tremendous day in terms of disrupting the option's game plan, as the Warriors finished with 14 caused turnovers – two of their season lead – as the Penmen turned the ball over 29 times, the most for a Merrimack opponent this year.
- With 14 more goals on Tuesday, the Warriors have recorded double-digit goal totals in each of their first seven 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 4-3 start is its best seven-game record since the 2011 season, as well; that year, the Warriors finished 12-7 overall.
- Merrimack outshot SNHU by a 30-22 margin (24-11 shots on goal) while finishing 19-for-21 in clears compared to 12-of-21 for SNHU.
- The Warriors also had three more ground balls (19-16) while the Penmen finished with one more draw control (12-11).
Up Next
Merrimack will stay home to take on eighth-ranked New Haven on Saturday, with game time at Merrimack Stadium set for 1 p.m.
