Manchester, N.H. (April 14) -- After closing to within 8-6 after three quarters, the Saint Anselm men's lacrosse team couldn't hold off No. 5 ranked Merrimack, dropping an 11-6 final to the Warriors at Grappone Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

Merrimack got on the board early and staked to a 3-0 first-quarter lead. Matt Surette (Wakefield, Mass.) and Kevin DeBenedetto (Reading, Mass.) scored twice in 19 seconds though to cut the lead down to 3-2. Merrimack scored the next three goals and looked like they were heading into the halftime break up 6-2 before Surette scored with 0.7 seconds left in the second quarter to make it 6-3.

Surette scored coming out of the halftime break to cut it to 6-4 and the game headed into the final period with a two-goal margin at 8-6. The Warriors held the Hawks scoreless in the final period and tallied three times for the 11-6 final.

Michael Balbuena (Falmouth, Mass.) led all scorers for Merrimack with five goals, while Greg Rogowski (Cohoes, N.Y.) scored a pair and had two assists. Surette had a hat trick for the Hawks to lead the hosts.

Dan Flynn (Wakefield, Mass.) was superb in net for the Hawks, making 15 saves. Cory Spinale (Wakefield, Mass.) was also outstanding in net for the entire game, turning aside 15 shots.

With the loss, Saint Anselm falls to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in league play, while Merrimack is 9-1 overall and 4-1 in Northeast-10 action. Saint Anselm is back in action on Saturday afternoon as the Hawks travel to Franklin Pierce for a 1:00 p.m. start in Rindge.

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MANCHESTER, NH – The Merrimack men's lacrosse team, ranked fourth in this week's Laxnews.com national poll defeated Saint Anselm College 11-6 Tuesday afternoon to improve to 9-1 on the season. Michael Balbuena led the way with five goals, giving the sophomore 20 on the season.

The Warriors grabbed the early 3-0 lead behind two goals from Balbuena. The Hawks cut it to 3-2 but goals from Balbuena, Bryan MacPhie, and Greg Rogowski pushed the advantage to four at 6-2 in the second quarter.

The Hawks closed the gap to two at 8-6 before the start of the fourth, but the Warriors put the game away scoring the final three tallies, with Balbuena getting a pair of them. Merrimack forced 11 fourth-quarter turnovers, while Cory Spinale stopped four shots to keep the hosts scoreless in the final 15 minutes.

Spinale finished with 14 saves in the win, while the Warriors forced 24 turnovers and converted on one of their two man-advantages.

Rogowski finished with two goals, his 39th and 40th of the season, and dished out two assists. Mark Webber tallied three points on a goal and two assists, while Spinale and Michael Miano posted a team-best six ground balls.

The Warriors (9-1, 4-1 NE-10) host Pace Saturday at 12:00 p.m.

2009-04-14