NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Senior Meghan Smith (Pittsford, N.Y.) and freshman Kaitlyn Stazinski (Pembroke, Mass.) each recorded five points, but the Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team suffered a 14-11 loss at 10th-ranked Merrimack College on Saturday afternoon in each team's Northeast-10 opener at Martone-Mejail Field.

The Hawks drop to 1-3 on the season, including 0-1 in the conference, while the Warriors open the season 1-0.

A Colleen Strachan free-position goal opened the scoring 3:30 in before Liz Greeley's unassisted tally 3:04 later gave Merrimack a 2-0 lead.

Smith found the back of the net 34 seconds later off a feed from Stazinski to cut the Hawks' deficit in half. Two more Merrimack goals, including Greeley's second of the afternoon pushed the lead to 4-1 at the 20:01 mark.

Stazinski sliced it to 4-2 nearly a minute later with an unassisted goal, but Merrimack answered with six straight goals to close the half, including two from Strachan and one from Greeley, to take a 10-2 lead into the break.

Greeley opened the second-half scoring 3:44 in with a free-position goal that made it 11-2. Senior Shawna Walsh (Woburn, Mass.) answered with a free-position tally at 20:33 before Smith found the back of the net 22 seconds later to trim the Saint Anselm deficit to 11-4.

Giulia Palombo scored with 16:46 remaining off a feed from Strachan and then Strachan converted a free-position chance just 33 seconds later to make it 13-4. Stazinski answered with her own free-position goal at 14:23 before Strachan scored again with 12:45 left to make it 14-5.

Smith then scored at 10:16, followed by freshman Marissa Daly (Marshfield, Mass.) off a pass from Stazinski just 26 seconds later that made it 14-7.

Smith found the back of the net again off a free-position shot at 6:17 before Daly's unassisted tally made it 14-9 with 2:58 to play. Stazinski scored 22 seconds later to make it 14-10. Smith converted another free-position chance with 38 seconds left, but the Hawks ran out of time as they fell short.

Smith finished with five goals, while Stazinski tallied three goals and a pair of assists. Merrimack's Strachan recorded five goals and an assist.

Freshman goalkeeper Allee Ramzi (Cumberland, R.I.) stopped a career-best nine shots. Inna Hedden stopped seven of 12 shots playing the first 47:15 of action, while Sam Kiesel stopped two of eight shots playing the final 12:45.

Merrimack outshot Saint Anselm, 29-24, including 20-6 in the opening half. The Hawks converted four of their seven free-position shots, while the Warriors were 7-for-10.

The Hawks return to action Tuesday, March 13 at 3 p.m. when they open their home slate by playing host to Molloy College at Grappone Stadium.