Links: Box Score
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Merrimack College women's lacrosse team fell by a 15-14 final to Sacred Heart Wednesday evening at Campus Field in a game that included 10 ties and eight lead changes.
Haley Bartlett continued her stellar senior campaign and led Merrimack in scoring with five goals and
Taylor Darrell (three goals, one assist) and
Natalie Calkins (one assist, three goals) both chipped in with four points apiece.
Catherine Mahanna netted a hat trick as well.
The Warriors held multiple leads in both halves, but they ran out of time after the Pioneers had a late run to retake the lead.
The Basics
Score: Sacred Heart 15,
Merrimack 14
Records: Merrimack (1-5, 1-3 NEC) | Sacred Heart (2-4, 2-3 NEC)
How It Happened
- The teams traded tallies for the opening five minutes, but it was Bartlett that got the Warriors in front first. She took a pass from Calkins a few yards away from the cage, then turned and fired a sidearm shot home.
- Sacred Heart knotted the game at 27:15, but Mahanna had the answer just 30 seconds later when she took it herself, charged towards the cage and finished.
- The Pioneers tied it up about a minute later, then took their first lead of the day at the 22:33 mark.
- After nearly eight minutes without a goal, Merrimack grabbed momentum. After Sam Preston, in her collegiate debut, made a couple key stops, the team finished off a pair of free positions in an eight-minute stretch from Darrell, then Olivia Valdes to regain the lead.
- Sacred Heart found its stride again and went on a 3-0 run in the latter stages of the half to take its biggest lead of the game at 6-4.
- The Warriors came back before the intermission in a big way. Bartlett notched her second of the afternoon when she received a pass from Sydney Leeds and fired one home with 1:11 to play. Then, Mahanna made an incredible individual effort to fight her way through defenders and score with 25 seconds left to play in the opening half hour.
- In the final two seconds of the half, Sacred Heart retook the edge with a free position goal.
- Merrimack regrouped and came out red hot to start the second half. The Warriors rifled off three straight goals in the opening three minutes, capped by Meghan Dzialo's first of the day, which was a cannon to the top of the net.
- The hosts tallied two in a row in a minute's span to knot the game at nine.
- Both sides went another eight minutes without a goal, then Merrimack wrestled back momentum. Bartlett scored her fourth of the day off another Calkins dish, then Mahanna finished a free position a minute and a half later to stake the Warriors to an 11-9 lead.
- Sacred Heart regained the lead in the seesaw battle, as it went on a 3-0 run in the next two minutes.
- Bartlett tallied her fifth of the day at 10:36 to even the score, but Sacred Heart had an answer just 43 seconds after to reclaim the lead.
- The Warriors put their foot back on the gas in the next two minutes and fought back to claim the advantage. Darrell found the back of the net on a free position at the 8:12 mark, then Calkins scored her first of the day to give Merrimack the lead with 7:31 to play.
- Preston and the Warriors held the Pioneers off the board for the following four minutes, but they broke through in the closing three minutes for a pair to take the close victory.
Notes & Numbers
- Bartlett is now just six goals away from 150 on her Merrimack career.
- Preston had a solid game in her debut, as she made 11 saves in the cage.
- Valdes was exceptional in the midfield and finished with a single game career-high seven draw controls.
- Calkins' three assists marked a single game career-high.
- Darrell, Dzialo and Kelly Corrigan all tied for the team-high in ground balls with three.
- Shots (MER-SHU): 25-36 (19-26 SOG)
- Draw Controls (MER-SHU): 11-18 Ground Balls (MER-SHU): 17-18
- Turnovers (MER-SHU): 16-15 // Clears (MER-SHU): 21-25 // 17-18
Up Next
Merrimack heads to Loretto, Pa. Saturday for a rematch against Saint Francis. Start time is slated for 1:00 pm.
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