#4 Men’s Lacrosse Downs #9 Mars Hill 14-8

MARS HILL, NC – The Merrimack men’s lacrosse team, ranked fourth nationally, earned its second straight win against a ranked opponent with a 14-8 victory over ninth-ranked Mars Hill Tuesday afternoon.

Greg Rogowski (Cohoes, NY) led the way with six goals and an assist.

Merrimack trailed 2-0 early, but scored eight of the next ten goals to take an 8-4 lead at halftime. Rogowski scored three of those, including two in 24 seconds to tie the game at two. Jo Pisano (Dedham, MA) added two first-half tallies, while Brad McAdam (Neshanic Station, NJ) tallied two early assists and three first-half ground balls.

Rogowski added his fourth with 2:23 to play in the third to give the Warriors the 11-5 lead heading into the fourth.

The Warriors dominated the shot total, outshooting Mars Hill 45-34 and stayed out of the box as the hosts took 11 of the first 12 penalties, with Rogowski, David Robinson (Lexington, MA) and Greg Fallon (North Kingstown, RI) each scoring a man-advantage goal. Mars Hill poured it on late, firing 16 fourth quarter shots, but Cory Spinale (Wakefield, MA) made seven of his 16 stops in the final frame.

Danny Farmer netted three goals for Mars Hill, who fell to 5-2 on the season.

Merrimack (2-0) continues its North Carolina trip at Wingate Saturday at 2 p.m.