After defeating No. 3 Pace 13-12 in thrilling overtime fashion Wednesday, the Chargers’ season came to an end as they lost to Merrimack 15-11 on Saturday.

The first half saw a lot of momentum shifts as Merrimack got out to an early 5-2 lead. Sophomore Emily Holland brought the Chargers within two with her 18th goal of the season, but the Warriors took control by scoring four unanswered goals to bring the New Haven deficit to six.

The Chargers were out shot 21-16 in the first half, with 15 of the 21 Merrimack shots being on goal. New Haven showed their resiliency as they won the draw control and ground ball battle winning those battles 12-11 and 8-7 respectively. The Chargers ended the first half down 10-4, with 30 minutes remaining in the careers of the Chargers’ five seniors.

New Haven came out on a mission in the second half, scoring four goals in the first 15 minutes to keep themselves in the game. Junior Julia Jette, senior Mackenzie Reh took control contributing to all four goals. After a goal by freshman Marina Skelly, the Chargers faced a 13-10 deficit with 9:28 remaining in the half. New Haven continued their draw control dominance, collecting nine to help keep the ball on the offensive end.

Junior goalkeeper Gianna Guerra made five second-half saves to keep the Chargers alive. Guerra finished with 10 saves, adding to the new single-season saves record of 194 that Guerra broke against Pace in the NE-10 quarterfinals. Reh would score the Chargers final goal of the season to make it 14-11 and that was the closest New Haven was going to get with 7:44 left. The Warriors sealed the win with another goal with 1:46 to go, ending the Chargers season.

The Chargers were led by Reh, who contributed five goals and two assists. Sophomore Emily Holland contributed two goals, while Jette, Skelly, senior Samantha Galler, and junior Caroline Maher contributed one each.

New Haven finishes the 2019 season with a 12-7 overall record. The Chargers finished third in the NE-10 in goals with 270. They also finished In the top 5 in assists (113), goals per game (14.21), shots (558), shooting percentage (48.4) and shots on goal (446). Women’s lacrosse will return again in spring 2020 and will be led by current juniors Jette, Kendra Nolan, Maher, Olivia Serpa, Zoe Wilkins, Guerra, Erika Rinsky, and Raven Linton.