Box Score BOX SCORE
When and Where: May 2, 2017 – North Andover, Mass. (Martone-Mejail Field)
Score: No. 2/Third-seeded Merrimack College 13, No. 18/Sixth-seeded Southern New Hampshire University 10
Records: SNHU 9-6, Merrimack 13-2
Junior Corey Cairo (Wading River, N.Y.) scored four goals and senior Tyler Walsh (Northampton, N.Y.) stopped 15 shots, but second-ranked and third-seeded Merrimack College used a five-goal fourth quarter to break an eight-all tie and oust No. 18 and sixth-seeded Southern New Hampshire University from the Northeast-10 Conference men's lacrosse championship on Tuesday, 13-10.
Senior Keifer Heckman (Peabody, Mass.) tallied three points on a goal and two assists, while classmate Daniel Trainor (Billerica, Mass.) found the back of the net twice for the Penmen.
After the Warriors scored a pair of goals in the final 1:10 of the third quarter to draw even at eight, senior Zach Jacobs (Tewksbury, Mass.) buried his 19th of the year 2:46 into the fourth to reestablish a one-goal advantage. Merrimack responded just over a minute later on a Charlie Bertrand marker with 11:19 to play, which sparked a four-goal run that ballooned the hosts' lead to 12-9 with six minutes remaining in regulation. Trainor potted his second of the evening at 11:49, but Hunter Schmell's tally with under 30 seconds remaining sealed the 13-10 final.
Max Allen opened the game's scoring at 1:35 to give the Warriors a 1-0 edge before Bertrand doubled it 3:20 later. Cairo registered back-to-back goals, the first from sophomore Joseph Mayernik (Pearl River, N.Y.) and the second from Heckman, at 6:15 and 9:09 to pull Southern New Hampshire even, but a man-up marker from Michael O'Connell with eight seconds left in the stanza gave Merrimack a 3-2 lead after one.
Heckman's first of the game evened things up at three 2:08 into the second, but a three-goal spurt by Merrimack provided the Warriors with their largest lead of the game at 6-3 with just under three minutes left in the first half. Cairo closed out the half with his 30th of the year off a feed from Heckman at 13:50, and the two sides went into the intermission with Merrimack in front, 6-4.
Southern New Hampshire came out strong in the second half, and used a four-goal run that spanned the first eight minutes of the frame to take its first lead of the night. Junior Dan Malave (Wading River, N.Y.) converted a feed from senior Cameron McGuire (Melrose, Mass.) on the man-up 23 seconds in to trim the Penmen deficit to one before Cairo completed his hat trick with help from junior Chris West (Albany, N.Y.) less than three minutes later. Junior Zach Tanner (Woburn, Mass.) provided Southern New Hampshire with a 7-6 advantage at 4:57, and Trainor's first pushed the Penmen in front by a pair with 5:54 left in the third.
Notes:
- With three points on Tuesday, Heckman will graduate No. 8 all-time in career scoring at Southern New Hampshire University with 154 points. His 112 goals also slot him fifth in program history in career goals scored.
- The Warriors outshot the Penmen, 52-45, and won 16-of-25 trips to the faceoff X. During its five-goal fourth, Merrimack won 6-of-8 faceoffs, while Southern New Hampshire claimed 4-of-6 in the third.
- Walsh's 15 saves are tied for the third-most of his career. He set a career high with 17 saves against Saint Anselm College on April 20, 2016.
- Tuesday marked the final games for Heckman, Jacobs, McGuire, Malave, Trainor, Walsh, Matthew Blaisdell (Tewksbury, Mass.), Scott Lavey (Wading River, N.Y.), Matt McIntire (Milford, Mass.), Will Thompson (Southington, Conn.), Patrick Goff (Nashua, N.H), Nicholas Ouellette (Peabody, Mass.) and John Marcone (Canton, Mass.) at Southern New Hampshire.
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