NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Despite trailing by seven goals in the first half and eventually forcing overtime following a comeback, the Saint Anselm College men's lacrosse team dropped an 11-10 overtime decision to the No. 6-ranked Warriors of Merrimack College Tuesday evening at Martone-Mejail Field. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 8-3 overall on the season and drop only their second Northeast-10 Conference game of the year (5-2). The Warriors improve to 9-2 overall and to 5-2 within the conference.
Merrimack scored the lone goal of the first period as Greg Melaugh scored an unassisted goal with only 27 seconds remaining in the stanza. The Warriors scored the next six goals, however, as Merrimack jumped out to a 7-0 lead with 7:06 remaining in the second period. Paul Jones notched three assists during the 6-0 second period run while Corey Lunney struck twice for Merrimack to extend their lead.
Including attack Jake Mallinson's (Middletown, R.I.) goal with 1:23 in the second period to place Saint Anselm on the board, the Hawks went on a five goal run to bring the scoring margin to within two. Andrew Messner (Wakefield, R.I.) scored three goals while Daniel Sullivan (Rumford, R.I.) scored his fifth man-up goal of the season to bolster the Hawks offense. Merrimack and Saint Anselm traded goals in the waning minutes of the period as the Warriors took an 8-6 deficit into the final period of regulation.
Mike Perdie of the Warriors scored an unassisted goal with 12:24 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Hawks rattled off four straight goals to take a 10-9 lead, their first of the day. Mallinson and midfielder Ryan Mee (Medway, Mass.) scored two goals apiece. Trailing by one goal in the final minute of regulation, Mallinson scored with 37 seconds remaining to tie the score at nine apiece while Mee put the Hawks up by one goal only 15 seconds following the game-tying strike.
Merrimack used two dramatic goals to both force overtime and secure the victory. Lunney tallied his third goal of the game with 11 seconds remaining in regulation, tying the score at 10 apiece and forcing overtime. With only 10 seconds remaining in the overtime period, Melaugh forced home an unassisted goal to grant the Warriors a 11-10 victory.
Hawks goaltender Jonathon O'Reilly (Plano, Texas) draws only his third loss of the season, turning aside 11 shots on goal. Merrimack netminder Morgan Green collected his ninth victory of the year, stopping only one shot on net in the contest.
NOTABLES: Saint Anselm has lost two games in a row for the first time all season…Andrew Messner has scored six goals and four assists for 10 points (6-4=10) in his last three contests…Midfielder James Brine (Burlington, Mass.) tallied his first assist of the year in today's game…Jake Mallinson tallied a season-best four points (3-1=4) this evening…Midfielder James Peters (Medway, Mass.) is riding a four game point streak, having scored six goals and one assist for seven points (6-1=7)…Midfielder Tyler Steinetz (Sparta, N.J.) has recorded 12 goals in his last seven games…Daniel Sullivan has scored one goal in seven of his last eight games and is riding a team-high nine game point streak, scoring seven goals and seven assists for 14 points (7-7=14).
Saint Anselm returns to action this Saturday, Apr. 21 as they travel to play the Panthers of Adelphi University in a 1:00 p.m. contest. Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by following the Hawks on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
