ANDOVER, Mass. – Senior Jeremy Buckley (Norwell, Mass.) scored six goals, but the Southern New Hampshire University men's lacrosse team fell to No. 6 Merrimack College, 10-9, in a thrilling Northeast-10 Conference contest at Martone-Mejail Field on Wednesday. The Penmen move to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in league play, while the Warriors up their record to 3-0 and 2-0 within the confines of the Northeast-10.

Merrimack opened up an 8-3 lead just under a minute into the third quarter before Southern New Hampshire mounted a furious comeback. Buckley tallied his third goal of the afternoon with 11:52 left to play in the third to make it 8-4 before senior Cory Allen (Suffield, Conn.) trimmed the deficit to three with his second score of the game 1:25 later. Graduate student Phil LaTorre (Londonderry, N.H.) closed out the quarter with his third goal of the year with less than a minute remaining, and the teams went into the fourth with the Warriors out front, 8-6.

Buckley continued the Penmen run in the fourth with his when he collected his fourth 1:37 into the final quarter to make it a one-goal game. Less than a minute later, he potted his fifth of the day to bring Southern New Hampshire all the way back and even the score a eight.

After Tucker Schwarz scored his fifth goal of the game with 10:52 remaining in regulation to push Merrimack back in front by one, Buckley buried his sixth to make it 9-9 with 2:09 to play. Just over a minute later, Schwarz responded with his sixth to regain the lead for the Warriors. The Penmen controlled the ensuing faceoff, but were unable to net the equalizer in the game's final minute.

Southern New Hampshire took a 1-0 lead just under five minutes into the first when Allen netted his sixth of the year. Merrimack evened the score with 4:07 left in the opening quarter on Schwarz's fourth of the season.

The Warriors opened the second quarter with a three-goal run to take a 4-1 advantage before Buckley trimmed the Penmen deficit to a pair with 10:22 to go on his fourth of the year from junior Eric Johnson (West Suffield, Conn.). Merrimack scored three-straight to make it 7-2, and just before the halftime horn sounded, Buckley notched his second of the afternoon to cut the Warriors' lead to 7-3 at the half.

Allen finished with two goals and three assists for Southern New Hampshire, and Johnson handed out three helpers in the setback. Senior Crosby Nicholson (Andover, Mass.) stopped 17 shots in the Penmen cage, including six in the second half. Schwarz led the Merrimack attack with six goals and Max Allen chipped in with two scores. Dom Madonna recorded six saves in goal for the Warriors.

Southern New Hampshire is back in action on Saturday when it travels to the College of Saint Rose for a Northeast-10 tilt with the Golden Knights at 1 p.m. Merrimack also resumes its schedule on Saturday when it hosts Pace University at noon.

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