NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Junior Conor Foley (Walpole, Mass.) continued his hot play with another hat trick as the UMass Lowell men's lacrosse team fell 16-10 to Merrimack on Saturday at Duane Stadium.
 
Foley notched three goals and two assists for a total of five points for the River Hawks. Junior Nick Harvath (Whitmore Lake, Mich.) and junior Brian Wiles (Longmeadow, Mass.) both scored two goals to back up Foley's outing. Graduate student Domenic Giachello (Somers, Conn.), sophomore Jake Davis (Franklin, Mass.), and senior Dakota Clark (Bedford, N.H.) all added to the scoring for UMass Lowell with one goal each.
 
Graduate student Kyle Laforge (Tyngsboro, Mass.) threw out two assists in the contest. Giachello and Harvath both dished out an assist apiece as well.
 
At the X, senior Liam McDonough (Groton, Mass.) had his best showing this season, finishing 16-for-28. In goal, sophomore Anthony Mancino (Holbrook, N.Y.) earned his second straight start and stopped 10 shots from the Warriors. 
 
"We did some really good things tonight. When we limit the unforced turnovers as we had in the third period, we'll take a big step forward," said Head Coach Ed Stephenson after the game. "Liam played really well at the faceoff X, gathering nine ground balls. Conor also had another strong outing with five points." 
 
Foley scored the first goal of the game off a clean pass from Laforge to get the ball rolling. Merrimack answered back with three unanswered goals to send the River Hawks down, 3-1, with 5:01 remaining in the first quarter. One last strike from Harvath off a feed from Giachello pushed UMass Lowell back into the game heading into the second frame.  
 
The game stayed close throughout the second quarter as both teams traded a pair of blows. A three-goal uncontested streak off the sticks off Foley, Wiles and Harvath handed the River Hawks a 6-4 lead with just under five minutes to go in the first half. A pair of goals from the Warriors quickly stubbed the UMass Lowell lead and forced a tied game just before halftime. 
 
Both squads came out swinging at the top of the third, putting up goals on each side to stay deadlocked. Merrimack picked up momentum to close out the quarter and unleashed a scoring barrage late to put the River Hawks behind, 13-7. 
 
An early fourth-quarter goal from Wiles kept the River Hawks within striking distance, but the Warriors tallied two more to keep UMass Lowell at bay. 
 
Goals from Foley and Davis crept the River Hawks back within five 4:07 left in the game, but a man-up opportunity for the Warriors sealed the 16-10 loss. 
 
Next up, UMass Lowell heads back home to Cushing Field to face Sacred Heart next Saturday, March 12, at 1 p.m.