Women's Lacrosse Cruises Past Franklin Pierce In Season Final, 20-11
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack women's lacrosse team sent their senior class off with a decisive 20-11 victory on Thursday night at Martone-Mejail Field over the Franklin Pierce Ravens in the Warriors season finale.
"I thought it was a great team win today," said head coach Corinne Desrosiers. "We got everyone looks, worked on tying the season together and sending our seniors off with a win. I said before the game, not getting to the playoffs was extremely disappointing for our young team this year but this allowed us a unique opportunity that we've never had before to end the season with a win. Unless you win the national championship, every post season team ends up with a heartbreaking loss. We didn't have to, and we finished out with a win. I'm very proud of this team and our seniors for keeping their heads up this year."
Merrimack (5-11, 4-8 NE-10) closed out their 2013 season with two straight conference home victories. The Merrimack offense scored in bunches on Thursday afternoon as they had four runs of four goals as they scored a season-high 20 goals.
The Warriors were led offensively by sophomore Mia Rapolla (Gorham, ME) who finished the game with a season-high five goals and one assist while Tyler Szymanski (Framingham, Mass.) finished with three goals and two assists. Olivia Huie (Norwell, Mass.) and Aubrie Stouffer (Souderton, PA) each recorded three goals while Katie Trahanas (Longwood, FL) led all players with four assists. Sam Kiesel (Lakeville, Mass.) finished off her Merrimack career with the victory between the pipes for the Warriors as she made a season-high 17 saves.
Merrimack opened up the scoring less than three minutes into play as Stouffer scored her first of the night after a nice assist from Huie. Merrimack added three more goals to take the 4-0 lead with 24:11 remaining in the opening half. Huie, Rapolla and Stouffer each netted a goal during the run.
Franklin Pierce scored their first goal of the game before Merrimack went on another 4-0 scoring run behind two goals from Huie, one from Rapolla and one from sophomore Giulia Palombo (Sandwich, Mass.).
The two teams traded a pair of goals in the final five minutes of the game as Rapolla scored both Warrior goals. Merrimack took the 10-3 lead at halftime and dominated play, holding the 24-11 advantage in shots.
The Ravens opened up the second half on a 5-2 scoring run to make the score 12-8 in favor of the home squad. The Merrimack goals were scored by Szymanski and Liz Greeley (Norwood, Mass.). Merrimack responded quickly to the Ravens scoring run as they scored the next three goals to take over the game. Jenn Pino (North Andover, Mass.) scored her 37th goal of the season while Szymanski and Stouffer added goals of their own.
Nicole Dale found the back of the net for the Ravens to make the score 15-9 in favor of the Warriors with 12:24 to play in the game but Merrimack scored four straight once again to take the ten goal lead.
In the final minute and a half, the Ravens scored two goals while Olivia Coakley (Bridgewater, Mass.) scored her first goal of the season after a perfect pass from Kristin Elliott (Amherst, NH).
The Ravens were led offensively by Nicole Dale who recorded a team-high four goals and one assist in the loss while Madeline Shopshire scored three goals and one assist.
For the game, Merrimack outshot the Ravens 40-33 while they were nearly perfect on their clearing attempts going 17-for-18 in their chances. The Warriors held the slim 17-16 advantage in draw controls while they were successful on 3-of-8 free position attempts.
