ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Mar. 25, 2016) – Wednesday afternoon (Mar. 23) proved to be a difficult test for the No. 12 Molloy College men's lacrosse team, as a late four-goal rally by sixth-ranked NYIT sent the Lions to their second loss of the season. Molloy had a bit of a brief break, but now the maroon and white must tangle with another top-tier team on Saturday (Mar. 26) when the Lions travel to North Andover, Mass. and face the No. 4 Merrimack College Warriors at the unfriendly confines of Martone-Mejail Field.
About the Lions- Molloy is 6-2 on the season as it ventures out of East Coast Conference competition on Saturday. The Lions are 5-0 out of conference this season and 3-0 versus the Northeast-10 with wins over Assumption, Southern New Hampshire and Saint Rose.
- Seniors
Kevin Teresky (South Huntington, N.Y.) and
Peter Clark (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) have become the two monsters on offense for opposing defenses to tangle with this season. Teresky has a team-high 31 points (20 G, 11 A) while Clark leads the squad with 23 goals scored so far this season. Behind those two is a three-headed scoring attack led by 16-goal scorer
Jon Camposa (Syosset, N.Y.). Midfielders
Austin Valenti (Baldwin, N.Y.) and
Connor Slane (North Babylon, N.Y.) each have 12 goals on the year.
- The defensive unit is statistically sound, led by senior
Dan Grebe (Farmingville, N.Y.) who is tied with Valenti for the most ground ball pickups on the squad (27). Sophomore long-stick midfielder
Zach Antonette (Seaford, N.Y.) has 21 ground balls and a team-high 12 caused turnovers while freshman
Mike Durkin (Lake Grove, N.Y.) has accommodated himself well with 21 ground ball pickups also. Sophomore
Jaron Greenidge (Flanders, N.Y.) is a menace on defense with nine caused turnovers and seven ground ball pickups. Behind the defenders is sophomore goalie
Ryan Toomey (Hicksville, N.Y.) who currently has a 9.13 goals-against average and a .510 save percentage in cage.
Concerning the Warriors- The lone blemish for Merrimack College came in its last game, an 11-6 loss to No. 2 Le Moyne in Syracuse on Mar. 19. The Warriors are 5-1 on the season including a season-opening victory versus then-No. 3 and now sixteenth-ranked LIU Post.
- The strength of the Warriors lies in an overwhelming disparity of goals scored versus goals allowed. Merrimack has scored 101 goals this season, with a majority of them coming from four different players. Junior attacker Max Allen (West Caldwell, N.J.) has the team lead with 19 goals so far this season, while junior John Bassett (Clifton Park, N.Y.) has scored 16 times. Midfielders Ryan Poirier (Warwick, R.I.) and Jack Trask (Colorado Springs, Colo.) have 11 and 10 goals, respectively.
- That said, Merrimack's defense is yielding an average of 8.17 goals per game and has only allowed 49 shots to pass the goalies and rip the twine of the cage. Sophomore goalie Sam Ventresca (Woburn, Mass.) is 5-1 this season with an 8.07 goals-against average and a save percentage of .453. While the save percentage is low, keep in mind that Merrimack is picking up over 200 ground balls and causing more turnovers than the opposition and that sophomore Blake Boudreau (Amherst, N.H.) has won 66 percent (91-139) of the face-offs that he has taken this season.
