LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. -- The Merrimack men's lacrosse team will travel back to Siena for the second time in as many weeks, but this time it will be for a win-or-go-home clash.
The No. 4 Warriors travel to the top-seeded Saints for the semifinal round of the MAAC Men's Lacrosse Championships. Merrimack defeated No. 5 Quinnipiac in its opening round matchup, a 14-12 verdict at Duane Stadium on Sunday, while Siena benefited from a first-round bye.
The Warriors have won five straight games and six of their last seven. During that five-game win streak, Merrimack has scored 11 goals or more. Â
"Right now we're playing our best lacrosse of the season, which is great," Merrimack head coach Mike Scimanna said following the postseason win. "We'll certainly have our hands full with Siena, they're going to want pay back, just like we did today. We need a great three days of preparation, need to get our legs back, watch some film and go back to the drawing board.
"But if we play with confidence like we did today, I don't think there's any team in the conference we can't beat."
A key reason for their success on offense has been the play of
Colin Kruger (team-best 43 points on 35 goals), Jack Savla (24 goals, 12 assists) along with the contributions of
Finn Dougherty (23 goals),
John Savino (three goals against Quinnipiac) and others.
Jaden Galfano, who was named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Week in the final week of the regular season, has become a fixture between the pipes with a .533 save percentage.
Siena is led by senior attack Caden Olmstead (35 goals, 12 assists), sophomore face off specialist Logan Banek (.692 percentage) and Riley Hegarty on defense.
Merrimack handed Siena it's first loss in conference play when it earned a 14-6 win on April 22.Â
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