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Highlights
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The fifth-ranked Merrimack College men's lacrosse program is headed back to the semifinals of the league tournament after the Warriors toppled sixth-seeded Saint Anselm, 14-8, in the opening round of the 2019 Northeast-10 Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship on Saturday afternoon at Duane Stadium.
Earning its 15
th straight trip to the NE10 Semifinals, Merrimack advances to take on second-seeded Le Moyne College on Wednesday (May 1) in Syracuse. The Warriors edged the Dolphins in dramatic fashion in the regular season matchup in March, and will be looking for another victory in order to defend their conference crown.
Sophomore
Christian Thomas led the way up front for the high-powered Merrimack offense, finishing with seven points, while classmate
Sean Black shared the game lead with three assists and finished with four points. Another sophomore
Davis Cronin, was phenomenal on the faceoff X with a 20-of-24 clip on the day, and freshman
Christian Glover was a force in the middle of the field, as well, causing three turnovers.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 14, Saint Anselm 8
Records: #5 Merrimack (13-2, 10-1 NE10) | Saint Anselm (7-7, 6-5 NE10)
Location: Duane Stadium | North Andover, Mass.
Duration: 1:54
Attendance: 318
Rapid Recap
- After four-plus minutes of back-and-forth action, senior Michael O'Connell opened the scoring at the 10:22 mark of the first, but Saint Anselm tied it two minutes later off a turnover.
- Thomas, however, went back-to-back in the span of a minute, including a pretty goal in transition off a feed from freshman Brennan McInnis, but the Hawks made it a one-goal game with a late tally to make it 3-2 heading to the second.
- Thomas hit the hat trick mark just over 30 seconds into second quarter while a man up, prompting the start of a six-goal outburst for the home side. Sophomore Lee Sipes buried his first of the year in transition, while Thomas, rookie Drew Hailey and junior Tyler Liantonio also found the back of the net as part of a 5-1 scoring run over a 10-minute span.
- Saint Anselm would get two of the last three goals to close out the half sandwiched around the first marker of the day from Black, keeping the Hawks within four (9-5) at the halfway point.
- After a combined nine goals between the two schools in the second frame, things settled down from an offensive standpoint in the penultimate quarter, as the Warriors outscored the Hawks, 3-1, to inch their lead to six goals (12-6). Rookie Max Morrill had a pair of them sandwiched around Saint Anselm's only goal of the frame, and O'Connell would bury a pass from Black at the 8:48 mark and the defenses took over from there.
- Merrimack added two more goals early in the fourth from junior Dom Thomas and another off the stick of Liantonio to round out the day.
Notes and Numbers
- Christian Thomas added another seven points to his season total, continuing what has been a month-long torrid offensive stretch. He scored on 4-of-7 shots and also added four ground balls.
- Black added two ground balls and a caused turnover offensively, while Liantonio, Morrill and O'Connell all had two-goal performances.
- Cronin led all Warriors with nine ground balls, while Morrill tied Glover for the most by any non-faceoff player.
- Nine different Warriors recorded a point overall with eight different goal-scorers. Merrimack set a new single-game high with 49 ground balls on the day.
- Junior Nick Ponte went 7-for-14 for an even 50-percent clip in net before sophomore Peter Brown stopped 3-of-4 down the stretch.
- Merrimack has also now won 23 straight games at home, the longest active home winning streak in the country.
- Merrimack won its16th straight game against Saint Anselm and improved its commanding all-time series lead to 27-3.
- Shots: 42-30 (27-18 SOG)
- EMO: 2-7 // 0-2
- Faceoffs: 16-22 // Ground Balls: 17-20
- Turnovers (CT): 24-18 (9-8) // Clears: 16-22 // 17-20
Up Next
Merrimack advances to the semifinal round of the NE10 Championship for the 15th straight season, where it will meet second-seeded Le Moyne on Wednesday, May 1, at Ted Grant Field in Syracuse. Game time is set for 3 p.m.
