Curran and Dunn Propel UNH Past Merrimack, 16-4

Wednesday, February 22

Durham, N.H.

2 PM

University of New Hampshire

1-2

Merrimack

0-4

Merrimack

New Hampshire

team celebrate_02-22_23-2-37-38_DT7T4173

Photo by: Tim Cardew

2/22/2023 10:22:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

DURHAM, N.H. – Senior captain Liv Dunn (Newbury, Mass.) and sophomore Grace Curran (North Salem, N.Y.) both recorded seven points to propel the University of New Hampshire women's lacrosse team to Wednesday afternoon's 16-4 non-conference victory against Merrimack College at Wildcat Stadium.

Dunn scored two goals and finished with career highs of five assists and seven points. Curran tallied five goals and two assists for seven points, all of which are personal bests. Senior captain Izzy Holmes (Seattle, Wash.; three goals, one assist), sophomore Allie Connerty (Norwell, Mass.; two goals, two assists) and senior Katie Taranto (Brewster, N.Y.; three goals) also recorded multiple points.

Sophomore goalkeeper Maria Hagan (Downers Grove, Ill.) was credited with five saves and one ground ball. MC starting goalie Hayley Kowalczyk made 10 saves and allowed 13 goals in 49:21 of action; Sam Preston stopped 2 of 5 shots on goal in a 10:39 relief stint.

UNH won its season opener to improve to 1-2 overall and Merrimack is now 0-4.

WLAX stats_02.22.23

UP NEXT

UNH returns to action Saturday, Feb. 25 (1 p.m.) home against Central Connecticut State University.

FIRST QUARTER

New Hampshire led 1-0 with an 8-4 shot advantage through 15 minutes.
Hagan made four saves to blank Merrimack while Kowalczyk made five saves to keep the visitors close.
UNH took a 1-0 lead at 10:52 when Holmes finished a feed from Curran.

SECOND QUARTER

The Wildcats outscored MC 5-1 in the second quarter with a 9-2 shot advantage.
Holmes pushed the lead to 2-0 with an unassisted goal at 13:17.
From behind the left post, Dunn found Curran in front of the net for a goal and 3-0 lead at 11:35.
Curran, from the right wing, then set up Connerty in front to extend the advantage to 4-0 at 8:49.
Dunn, once again set up behind the left post, connected with Taranto cutting down the middle and she dropped low to create the shooting angle for the goal and 5-0 lead at 7:12.
Sophia Scearbo lifted Merrrimack within 5-1 at 2:37.
From the right wing, Connerty connected with Mackenzie MacEachern (Bedford, N.H.) to produce a player-down goal with nine seconds on the clock that pushed the margin to 6-1 heading into halftime.

THIRD QUARTER

New Hampshire repeated its 9-2 shot advantage in the third quarter and extended the lead to 12-2 through 45 minutes.
Connerty rolled from behind the net to the right side and slipped a pass to Curran, who scored her second goal of the game for a 7-1 lead at 13:37.
Dunn netted her first goal of the game when she curled from behind the cage around the right post, hesitated and scored from the top of the circle to give the 'Cats an 8-1 lead at 11:22.
Holmes netted her third of the day by cutting down the middle of the fan for a 9-1 advantage at 10:39.
Dunn set up Curran's third goal at 9:50 to advance the score to 10-1.
Taranto's unassisted tally pushed the margin to double digits, 11-1, at 6:57.
Scearbo trimmed the Warriors' deficit to single figures, 11-2, at 2:39.
Taranto caught Holmes' pass at the top of the 8-meter and drove down the middle to net her third goal of the game for a 12-2 lead at 1:31. It marked Holmes' first career assist.

FOURTH QUARTER

Georgia Parker's unassisted goal once again sliced the margin to single digits, 12-3, at 12;28.
Curran converted a free position from the top of the fan to give the 'Cats a 13-3 lead at 10:43.
Taylor Jones made it 13-4 at 8:42.
UNH scored the last three goals of the game on tallies by Curran, Dunn, and Connerty; Dunn factored on all three by tallying an assist on the other two goals.

GAME NOTEBOOK

UNH finished with a 31-11 shot advantage that included 28-9 on goal.
The Wildcats also recorded the edge in ground balls (18-8), draw controls (14-10) and turnovers (10-22).
UNH was 13-for-15 on clear attempts in comparison to the Warriors' 9 of 17.
The 'Cats scored on 1 of 4 free-position shots, whereas MC was 0-for-1.

UNH NOTEBOOK

Emma Alpaugh (Darien, Conn.) led all players with five ground balls; she also had five draw controls and three caused turnovers.
Ava Schroeder (Niskayuna, N.Y.) was credited with three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Jesslyn Hounchell (Cornwall, Vt.) had two ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.
MacEachern extended her point streak to 16 games; she has 37 goals and nine assists for 46 points in that span.
She also recorded a game-high seven draw controls.
Dunn pushed her point streak to 15 games; she has 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points during the streak.
Holmes finished with career highs in goals (three), assists (one) and points (four).
Taranto has scored nine goals the past two games.