Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. – Powered by 11 different Mavericks scoring, the No. 1 seeded Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned a 19-9 win over No. 4 seeded Molloy University in an East Coast Conference (ECC) Men's Lacrosse Championship Semifinal on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (13-3) have won three games in a row and advance to the final for the fourth straight season. Mercy will play No. 2 seed Frostburg State in the Final on Saturday, May 6th at Mercy Field at 11 a.m.
Senior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College) had a game-high five goals and senior TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) had three goals and two assists. Heyder now has a school-record 55 goals on the year, surpassing the previous single-season record of 53 set by Dominic Scorcia last season. Graduate student Thomas Connors (Bellmore, N.Y./Desales University) had two goals and two assists, and freshman Devon Duchnowski (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) had two goals. Juniors Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) and Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) both had a goal and two assists. Graduate student Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had a goal and two assists, becoming the fifth Maverick in program history to record 200 career points. Senior Robert Guglielmo (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had a goal and an assist, and junior Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School) also scored. Senior Justin Gerdvil (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) scored a goal, had two ground balls and three caused turnovers and senior PJ Argiros (Levittown, N.Y./Nassau CC) scored a goal. Juniors Tyler Pjatak (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) and Damiano Ferrara (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown), graduate student Jake Fitzgerald (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham), and senior Matt Gaughan (Franklin Square, N.Y./H. Frank Carey) dished out an assist and junior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 10-of-17 on faceoffs with five ground balls. Graduate student Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made 13 saves with seven ground balls in 57:42 minutes of action to earn the win.
Molloy was led by Sean Plasencia who had a team-high three goals. Christian Michaels made a game-high 14 saves to take the loss.
Kearnan gave the Mavericks a 1-0 lead following an assist from Pjatak less than 20 seconds into the game. Kearnan later made it 2-0 at the 9:36 mark after an assist from Ferrara. Duchnowski gave the Mavericks a 3-0 lead with 5:41 on the clock before Plasencia scored to make it 3-1 with 2:47 remaining in the quarter. Mercy headed into the second quarter with a 3-1 lead.
Heyder made it 4-1 less than a minute into the second quarter after a pass from Jack Gibbons. Jack Herzlinger scored for Molloy at the 10:36 mark to make it 4-2. However, Duchnowski, Kearnan, and Heyder rattled off three straight goals to give Mercy a 7-2 lead with 7:11 left in the half. Connors and Argiros continued the onslaught with goals to make it 9-2 with 5:43 on the clock. Chris Delaney found the back of the net to make it 9-3 before Kearnan scored after an assist from Fitzgerald to give Mercy a 10-3 lead with two minutes left. Ryan Downing scored the final goal of the half to cut Mercy's lead to 10-4 at halftime.
Jack Gibbons made it 11-4 less than a minute into the third quarter. Back-to-back goals from Molloy cut Mercy's lead to 11-6 with 12:57 left in the quarter. Caskenette and Gerdvil quickly answered with two straight goals to increase the Mavericks' lead to 13-6 at the 10:57 mark. Plasencia scored again to make it 13-7 with 10 minutes remaining in the quarter. A Connors goal from Heyder made it 14-7 before Mikey Rodin scored for the Lions to bring the score to 14-8. Guglielmo, Heyder and Calabria closed the quarter with goals to give Mercy a 17-8 lead after three quarters.
Kearnan and Greg Gibbons scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to give Mercy a 19-8 lead with two minutes left. Molloy scored a late goal to make it 19-9, but the Mavericks cruised to the Semifinal win.
Mercy held a 53-50 edge in shots, a 48-31 edge in ground balls, and went 18-of-31 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, May 6th when they host No. 2 seed Frostburg State in the ECC Championship Final at 11 a.m.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.
