NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack men's lacrosse team, ranked fourth in this week's USILA national poll improved to 4-0 with a 12-9 win over Adelphi Thursday night in a hard fought game at Warrior Field.

Merrimack took a 7-6 halftime lead behind three goals from Greg Rogowski, including an incredible goal in which Shane Mahar started the possession 15 yards from Merrimack's own goal, launched the ball the entire length of the field where it found Rogowski, who knocked it past Panther goaltender Zachary Bates just before the half.

After the Panthers evened the score at seven early in the third, the Warriors answered, scoring three straight, including two from Bryan MacPhie, to grab a 10-7 lead. But Danny Blau cut the deficit to two, taking a feed from Kevin Kemp, and beating Cory Spinale with two seconds left on the third quarter clock.

The Warriors' defense was strong in the fourth, forcing six Panther turnovers, while Spinale had six fourth quarter saves to preserve the victory. Michael Balbuena finished with five points, getting four assists to go with six ground balls, while Rogowski finished with four goals and five points.

MacPhie added three goals on six shots, while Spinale stopped 12 shots in the win and picked up a team-high eight ground balls. The Warriors were solid on the man advantage, scoring on five of their eight chances.

Merrimack (4-0) hosts Assumption College Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in its conference opener.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Adelphi.............  1  5  2  1 -  9
Merrimack...........  3  4  3  2 - 12
 
Attendance: 129
 
Adelphi SCORING:
GOALS: Ege, Eddie 2; Benedetto, Paul 2; Ashkenazy, Andrew 2; Blau, Danny 1;
       Vitale, Joe 1; Jules, Edmund 1.
ASSISTS: Ege, Eddie 3; Kemp, Kevin 2; Blau, Danny 1; Colantuoni, Christia 1.
 
Merrimack SCORING:
GOALS: Greg Rogowski 4; Bryan MacPhie 3; Mark Webber 2; Michael Balbuena 1;
       Jo Pisano 1; Brad McAdam 1.
ASSISTS: Michael Balbuena 4; Shane Mahar 1; Brad McAdam 1; Jo Pisano 1;
         Greg Rogowski 1; Peter Schielke 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Adelphi.............  9  8 10 10 - 37
Merrimack...........  9 15  7  5 - 36
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Adelphi............. 12 11  7 12 - 42
Merrimack...........  9 14  9 11 - 43
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Adelphi.............  3-4   5-10  2-5   3-4  - 13-23
Merrimack...........  1-4   5-10  3-5   1-4  - 10-23
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Adelphi.............  3-3   4-5   5-7   4-5  - 16-20
Merrimack...........  3-3   2-3   2-3   4-6  - 11-15
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Adelphi.............  1-2   0-1   0-0   0-1  -  1-4
Merrimack...........  2-3   1-3   0-0   2-2  -  5-8
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Adelphi.............  4  5  2  1 - 12
Merrimack...........  2  2  2  6 - 12
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Adelphi.............  4  4  6  6 - 20
Merrimack...........  5  6  5  7 - 23
 
Penalties - Adelphi 9/7:00; Merrimack 5/5:30.

2009-03-26