After a back-and-forth first half, Marist pulled away in the second to secure a 14-8 win over the Merrimack Warriors, earning its third conference victory of the season.
The Red Foxes, a team that has historically been hesitant to shoot the ball, showed no reluctance, finishing with 30 total shots and 23 on goal, compared to Merrimack’s 10 shots on goal out of 27 shots. Marist has now defeated Merrimack in every matchup between the two since 2022.
This season, Marist has been led by an emerging duo of junior attack Kate Gaven and sophomore midfielder Amelia Pirozzi. Gaven and Pirozzi combined for seven of the Red Foxes’ 14 goals in the win against Merrimack on Wednesday afternoon.
Pirozzi, who played in just 11 games last year for the Red Foxes, got her 12th start of the year and scored five goals, further establishing herself as the team’s leading goal scorer with 28 goals in 12 games on the season
She ranks in the top 10 for goals per game and fifth in the MAAC for shots per game, averaging 5.5 shots a game.
While watching Marist lacrosse, Pirozzi has slipped under the radar as an elite player in the MAAC. Continuously moving on the field, Pirozzi is difficult for defenses to track, often cutting
from behind the net onto the eight-meter arc to create scoring opportunities for the Red Foxes.
On the Marist stat sheet, Gaven follows under Pirozzi with 16 goals on the season, tallying two goals and four assists in the game against the Warriors.
Gaven missed the last five games of her sophomore season with a shin injury last year, but has come back from her time out, producing virtually the same numbers in her junior year campaign.
Marist sat in a comfortable lead the entirety of the game, holding Merrimack behind by a two-goal lead or more. Junior attack Lindsay Atkinson got involved in nearly every goal for the Warriors with five assists on eight goals, and one goal of her own.
Atkinson ranks in the top four of the conference in assists, with 28 assists over 14 games and averaging 3.69 points per game this season.
Junior goalie Megan Morris recorded six saves behind a locked-down Red Foxes defense that forced the Warriors to 15 turnovers.
Seven Marist players contributed a goal to the team’s third conference win, placing them at 3-1 in MAAC play. Three teams remain undefeated in the conference: Fairfield, Mount St. Mary’s and Niagara.
The Red Foxes will continue their away stint on Saturday, against Canisius, which is undefeated at home.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Cara Lacey
Photo by Cassidy Connors
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