Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. – Powered by a combined 12 points from graduate student Kevin McNally (Hillburn, N.Y./SUNY Albany) and sophomore Ryan MacSpadyen (Toronto, Ontario/Seneca College) and 14 saves from sophomore Ryan Gibbons (Seaford, N.Y./Dowling College), the No. 2 seeded Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned their first-ever ECC Championship Semifinal victory and set a new school record for wins in a season with a 15-3 victory over No. 3 seeded Chestnut Hill College on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (12-4) snap a two-game losing streak and advance to the Championship Game for the first time where they will face No. 1 NYIT on Saturday, May 6th at LIU Post at 3 p.m. The Griffins (8-5) end their season with a loss.
McNally had a game-high seven points on two goals and five assists, while MacSpadyen had three goals and two assists, including his 100th career point. Senior Daniel Speicher (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) contributed three goals and three ground balls and sophomore Bobby Chillianis (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) netted two goals and an assist. Junior Chris Martinez (Uniondale, N.Y./Nassau CC) finished with a goal and two assists and freshman Joe Cortese (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) scored twice. Senior Nick Wilcox (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) and freshman Tommy McPartland (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) both added goals and freshman Antonio Rey (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) went 15-of-21 on faceoffs with six ground balls. Gibbons played the first 57:45 of the contest with 14 saves to earn the victory.
Chestnut Hill received two goals from Nicholas Webber and Thomas McDermott made nine saves to take the loss.
The Mavericks looked to make history in their first ECC Semifinal game at home and started off strong as Chillianis got on the board a minute in to give Mercy a 1-0 lead. Speicher and McNally followed with goals to make it 3-0 with 8:53 remaining in the opening quarter. It remained 3-0 after the first quarter as Gibbons made three saves to keep Chestnut Hill off the board.
Mercy continued to dominate in the second quarter as they scored four unanswered to begin the frame, taking a 7-0 lead with 4:35 left in the half. Martinez and MacSpadyen put their names in the scoring column with goals before Chillianis netted his second and Cortese added another. The Griffins finally broke through at the 2:51 mark to bring the score to 7-1, but MacSpadyen and Speicher closed out the half with goals to give Mercy a comfortable 9-1 lead at halftime. Gibbons stepped up big for the Mavericks in the quarter making six saves to limit Chestnut Hill to just one first-half goal.
The Griffins opened the second half with a goal just 16 seconds in and looked to make a rally. However, Speicher and McNally ended any hope of a comeback with back-to-back goals that made it 11-2 with 10:21 left in the period. Webber scored the final Chestnut Hill goal at the 6:07 mark to get the Griffins within, 11-3, but Mercy closed the game out with four straight goals to secure the win. MacSpadyen started the rally and was followed by goals from Cortese, Wilcox and McPartland.
Mercy held a 36-29 edge in shots, a 35-21 advantage in ground balls and went 15-of-21 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks will resume action on Saturday, May 6th when they play No. 1 NYIT at LIU Post in the ECC Championship Game at 3 p.m.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.
