Merrimack can't catch UMass in 4-3 loss despite strong showing on the road
It wasn't a win — which the Warriors need, especially in league games — but Merrimack head coach Scott Borek said it felt like a step in the right direction.
The Warriors fell to No. 14 UMass on Friday night 4-3 at the Mullins Center. The Warriors were chasing the game most of the night, but they outshot the Minutemen 34-24, and shot attempts were 82-43 in favor of Merrimack.
"Our goal coming into the game was to get back to playing our best," Borek said. "I thought we did that. Our effort was high, our physicality was high, and we fought for our ice. They're difficult to do that against. We just didn't get the result. We made a few mistakes, and we have to clean those up, but this was a step forward even if we did not get the win."
The Warriors fell behind 1-0 on Jack Musa's goal. Matt Copponi scored on a wraparound 55 seconds into the second period to tie the game.
Ryan Lautenbach scored to give the Minutemen the lead after the Warriors were caught on a long shift and couldn't clear the puck to get a line change. Four minutes later, Dans Locmelis doubled the lead.
Ben Brar scored on the power play to get the Warriors back to within a goal, but Ryan Ufko's power-play goal early in the third period helped the Minutemen pull away.
Alex Jefferies scored his 11th goal of the year with 8:30 left in the game, and the Warriors had plenty of chances with Zachary Borgiel on the bench for the extra attacker.
"They had two scoring chances, and both ended up in the net," Borek said. "That's because they were really good scoring chances and we needed to be better on the weak side. I'm frustrated with that. But we kept coming back hard in the third period. We had good looks on the power play and 6-on-5. It's back at it tomorrow."
The Warriors went 1 for 3 on the power play. That unit is 4 for 10 since returning from the semester break.
"That unit is starting to come along," Borek said. "They're sharing the puck well and moving it. We're opening up lanes. It's still growing but it's been very positive."
NOTES: The Warriors had one of their best nights of the season on the faceoff dot. Merrimack went 32-20 against a UMass team that entered the game No. 14 in the nation in that category. Copponi was 13-4 on draws. Chase Stevenson was 11-3.
NEXT: The Warriors will wrap up the weekend home-and-home against the Minutemen on Saturday night at Lawler Arena (7 p.m.).
UMass 4, Merrimack 3
at Mullins Center
Merrimack (9-10-1): 0-2-1--3
Massachusetts (12-5-3): 1-2-1--4
First Period: UMA Jack Musa 9 (Owen Murray, Aydar Suniev), ev, 14:20.
Second Period: MC Matt Copponi 5 (Zach Bookman), ev, 0:55; UMA Ryan Lautenbach 7 (Cam O'Neill), ev, 6:31; UMA Dans Locomelis 5 (Linden Alger, Aydar Suniev), ev, 10:23; MC Ben Brar 4 (Zach Bookman, Alex Jefferies), pp, 13:01.
Third Period: UMA Ryan Ufko 6 (Aydar Suniev, Jack Musa), pp, 2:44; MC Alex Jefferies 11 (Filip Forsmark, Ivan Zivlak), ev, 11:30.
Shots: MC 11-11-12--34; UMA 7-13-4--24
Saves: MC Borgiel (57:10) 20/24; UMA Hrabal (60:00) 31/34
Power Play: MC 1 for 3; UMA 1 for 3
Attendance: 3,734