TEANECK, N.J. – The Merrimack College women's lacrosse team secured their first victory of the season in their Northeast Conference opener.
 
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 12, FDU 6
Records: Merrimack (1-5, 1-0 NEC) | FDU (0-7, 0-2)
 
Rapid Recap
Merrimack was coming off a heartbreaking 18-3 loss at the University of Oregon, but the team did not let that game affect them today. We had a stalemate for the first ten minutes of the match before Samantha Spieler would get things going for the Warriors. Merrimack scored two more goals in the last few minutes of the quarter to go into the 2^nd up 3-0. The Warriors continued their dominance, scoring the next 4 goals. FDU would get sloppy and commit three fouls this quarter and Merrimack would capitalize on all of them. Freshmen Kaitlin Roche and Lindsay Atkinson, who have been stellar additions for the Warriors this season, were two of the woman-up scorers along with Natalie Calkins. Merrimack would nearly hold FDU to a shutout first half if not for a last-second goal, making the Warrior lead 7-1 after two quarters.
 
Things would get a little bit shaky for Merrimack in the 3^rd quarter as the Knights finally showed up to play. The quarter was pretty even until the 8-minute mark when FDU began slowly chipping away at the Warriors lead. 7-1 quickly became 7-6 before you knew it and Merrimack was on their heels with only 15 minutes to play. Not discouraged, the Warriors came out attacking in the 4^th. Spieler notched herself a hat trick thanks to a goal in the first minute of play. Merrimack would batten down the hatches defensively, not allowing a single goal for the remainder of the match. Hayley Kowalczyk had her best performance of the season, boasting a .769% save percentage. Natalie Calkins tacked on another woman-up goal for the Warriors, scoring her third of the day. Merrimack would get their first win of the season by a score of 12-6, and look to stay in the win column when they face Wagner College at home next week.

Notes and Numbers

• Natalie Calkins produced a team-high 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists)
• Lindsay Atkinson put up 5 points of her own (2 goals, 3 assists)
• Samantha Spieler went 2-3 on free-position shots
• Hayley Kowalczyk stopped 10 of the 13 shots she faced

Up Next
The Warriors are back at home for the first time in nearly a month as they will take on Wagner College on Wednesday, March 13^th at 1:30 PM.