#4 Men’s Lacrosse Defeated by #1 Le Moyne 15-5 in Final Four

SYRACUSE, NY – Making its first-ever final four appearance, the fourth-ranked Merrimack men’s lacrosse team saw its season come to an end, falling to top-ranked Le Moyne 15-5 Saturday afternoon.

With the win, Le Moyne (16-0), who was making its eighth-straight NCAA Division II Final Four appearance, advances to the National Championship game at Gillette Stadium on May 24 at 3 p.m. and will take on C.W. Post in a game televised nationally by CBS College Sports.

The Warriors, who won a school-record 14 games and earned its highest national ranking since 2000, finish their historic season 14-3, with all three losses coming to the unbeaten Dolphins.

Greg Rogowski (Cohoes, NY) and Bryan MacPhie (Scarboro, ME) each scored twice for the Warriors.

Merrimack came out strong getting four early shots, three by Kevin Laplante (Sabattus, ME), while Cory Spinale (Wakefield, MA) made three saves in the first ten minutes. But the Dolphins woke up from there, exploding for five goals in a 1:31 span, two from Jack Venditti to take the 5-0 lead with 1:40 to play in the first.

Dolphin goaltender Doug McIver made numerous stops early in the second, keeping the Warriors off the board, including a point-blank stop on MacPhie. Minutes later, with McIver looking the other way, Rogowski ringed a shot off the right post.

With Le Moyne on the man-advantage, Matt Chadderdon made it 6-0, ripping a shot over the glove of Spinale with 3:20 remaining in the first half. Keith Vetter put the icing on the cake, scoring twice in the final 17 seconds to give the hosts the 8-0 lead at halftime.

Merrimack finally got on the board as MacPhie and David Robinson (Lexington, MA) added third-quarter goals, but the Dolphins outscored Merrimack 4-2 in the third frame to take a 12-2 lead.

Rogowski finally got on the board, scoring twice in the fourth quarter, marking the first time the senior scored in nearly eight quarters against Le Moyne. MacPhie sandwiched his second of the game in between both of Rogowski’s tallies, giving the visitors three fourth-quarter goals in a 4:30 span. MacPhie’s tally and Rogowski’s second of the game, 54th of the season, were netted eight seconds apart.

McIver, the Northeast-10 Goalkeeper of the Year, made 11 saves in the win. Spinale stopped 13 shots in goal for Merrimack. Venditti led the way for the Dolphins with four goals in the win.

The game was delayed for 45 minutes with 6:14 to play due to a lightning storm. When play resumed, another four minutes were completed before the lightning resumed, resulting in another 30 minute delay. The game finally ended at 4:03 p.m.

Saturday’s game marked the final game for the five-member class of 2009, Rogowski, Michael Miano (Branford, CT), Jo Pisano (Dedham, MA), Tim Roy (Lewiston, ME), and Jonathan Nolet (Lowell, MA). Rogowski, a likely four-time All-American, finishes his career with 213 career goals, third all-time in Division II history, and 313 points, fourth all-time.