Sam Hurley
Sam Hurley

Sanford’s Four Goals Not Enough as No. 5 Merrimack Tops Bentley 19-8

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Junior Matt Sanford (Statham, N.H./Bow) tied a career-high with four goals, but No. 5 Merrimack came away with a 19-8 victory over visiting Bentley University in Northeast-10 men's lacrosse on Wednesday night.

Bentley led 3-1 after the first quarter. Merrimack's Max Allen got the game's first goal at the 11:46 mark, but Bentley clamped down defensively the rest of the quarter and kept the Warriors off the scoreboard. Meanwhile, the Falcons went on a 3-0 run that took just over three minutes, from 7:45 to 4:38. Sanford had the first and third goals of the run, with a man-up goal by senior John Wheeler (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough) in between.

Merrimack got the first goal of the 2nd quarter from Kyle Stenberg at 10:50, but just 36 seconds later, sophomore Sam Hurley (Medfield, Mass./Medfield) found the back of the net for the Falcons to put them up 4-2. However after Sanford's goal Merrimack closed the half on a 6-0 run. The first four goals came in just four minutes.

Merrimack continued its run early in the 3rd quarter with three goals in the opening 1:46 to take an 11-4 lead. Sanford netted man-up goal at 9:31, but Merrimack responded with a man-up goal of its own, and led 12-5 after the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Bentley received goals from Wheeler and Sanford.

Bentley's record dropped 3-3 overall and 2-2 in NE1 0 games. They'll look to bounce back on Saturday at home against AIC.