#9 Women's Lacrosse Takes Third Place with 21-17 Victory over Southern NH
NORTH ANDVOER, MA – The ninth-ranked Merrimack women's
lacrosse clinched third place in the Northeast-10 with a 21-17
victory over Southern New Hampshire Saturday afternoon at Warrior
Field.
With the victory, Merrimack's school-record ninth straight, the
Warriors (11-2, 9-2 NE-10) will host a Northeast-10 Quarterfinal
game on Wednesday against sixth-seed New Haven. The time of the
game will be announced on Monday.
“It was a hard-fought game, but I'm proud of the girls for
how they competed,” said head coach Corinne Baker, who earned
her first career victory against Southern New Hampshire. “We
played a good 60-minute game and we're looking forward to the
playoffs on Wednesday.”
The winner of Wednesday's quarterfinal will advance to the
semifinals on Saturday against second-ranked Stonehill at Adelphi
University. The finals are scheduled for Sunday at Adelphi.
Sophomore Mary Pasquantonio (Plainville, MA)
led the way with four goals and seven points for the Warriors.
The Penmen took an early 3-0 lead but Merrimack responded with
five goals in a 5:39 span, two from Christina McCarron
(Westwood, MA). Emily Mongeau scored five first-half
tallies, including a goal with 7:19 remaining to tie it at six, but
the Warriors closed the half with six of the final seven goals,
three from Alicia Tinsley (Shrewsbury, MA) to take
the 12-7 lead at halftime.
Merrimack built a 15-9 second half lead with goals from
Sarah Salatto (Guilford, CT) and Kelly
Pasquantonio (Plainville, MA) 56 seconds apart, but the
Penmen answered back, scoring seven of the next nine to cut the
lead to 17-16 with 12:21 remaining. But the Warriors held on from
there, as Meredith Prior (Branford, CT), Kelly
Pasquantonio, Mary Pasquantonio, and Colleen Strachan
(Bedford, MA) scored in the final minutes to secure the
victory.
Twelve different Warriors netted goals in all as the hosts
forced 12 turnovers and won 23 of 39 draws.
Merrimack outshot the Penmen 58-39 and overcame 25 saves from
Hannah Moriarty. Jamie-Lee Whiteway (Billerica,
MA) stopped 14 shots in the win.
Mongeau finished with seven goals, as the Penmen will battle
Bentley on Wednesday in Waltham in the other quarterfinal game.
Before the game, the Warriors honored its six-member class of
2010, Jamie-Lee Whiteway (Billerica, MA), Mia Basile
(Longmeadow, MA), Maddie Basile (Longmeadow, MA), Erica McMahon
(Shrewsbury, MA), Kelly Pasquantonio (Plainville, MA), and
Meredith Prior (Branford, CT).
