NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Holy Cross men's lacrosse team opened the 2020 season with a win over Merrimack, 13-12. Eight Crusaders tallied at least one goal and 10 picked up at least one point. Three freshmen scored in their collegiate debut and two had multi-point outings.
 
The Warriors opened the game with a goal at the 12:41 mark to take a 1-0 lead. Merrimack's lead held until 9:52 when Cameron Magalotti notched his first collegiate goal for the Crusaders, 1-1. The game remained knotted at 1-1 until under four minutes in the first quarter when Holy Cross started to pull away with a three-goal run. Justin Lynksey started things off with a man-up goal, followed by Kevin Kodzis and Connor Waldron, 4-1.
 
Merrimack tallied the first goal of the second quarter just 26 seconds in, 4-2. But the rest of the half was all Holy Cross as they outscored Merrimack, 4-2. Jayce Lambert recorded his first of his career in that time. Dan O'Connell capped off the first-half Holy Cross scoring with 1:09 to play. The Warriors closed the scoring with 22 seconds and the Crusaders held an 8-4 lead.
 
After the first half, the Crusaders held a 24-14 shot advantage.
 
The third quarter saw a 3-2 scoring advantage for the Warriors. Dean DiNanno picked up his first career goal while Will Spangenberg recorded his first assist of the season on the play to keep the Holy Cross lead, 9-6. Again, Merrimack closed the quarter with a goal with 17 seconds to play and closed the gap to 10-8.
 
The Warriors evened the score, 10-10, with 8:36 to play in regulation but the Crusaders responded one minute and 10 seconds later from Waldron's second of the day. Merrimack again evened things up, 11-11, with 6:52 to play but two Holy Cross goals in less than one minute sealed the game, 13-11. Veterans Kevin Kodzis and Sean Mullaney tallied goals to give the Crusaders the lead heading into the final minute, despite a 12^th Warrior goal.
 
Jonathan Tesoro made six saves in the game, including four in the final quarter to help Holy Cross capture its first win of the season.  s
 
NOTES & NUMBERS:

• Holy Cross outshot Merrimack, 40-32.
• The Crusaders went 2-for-3 on man-up opportunities, Justin Lynskey tallying both goals.
• Dan O'Connell led the Crusaders at the faceoff going 16-25 (.640). Holy Cross captured 18 faceoff wins and Brendan McKenzie won both faceoffs he took.  

 
CRUSADER LEADERS:

• Connor Waldron picked up five points from three assists and two goals, marking a career high for the senior.
• Kevin Kodzis added his seventh hat trick of his career.
• Defensively, Chris Conlin picked up six ground balls and caused two turnovers.
• Dean DiNanno recorded one goal and two assists for three points in his collegiate debut.