Old Westbury, N.Y. – Powered by a game-high six goals and ten draw controls from senior Hunter Isnardi (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville), the No. 1-seeded Mercy College women's lacrosse team earned an 11-9 victory over No. 3-seeded LIU Post to secure the program's first-ever ECC Women's Lacrosse Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon at NYIT.
The Mavericks (15-4) defeat the Pioneers (16-4) for the first time in program history and secure their first ECC Championship.
Isnardi also had an assist and three ground balls and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Sophomore Casey Shimborske(Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had two goals and two assists and sophomore Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) scored twice. Freshman Juliana Keenan (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) also scored and freshman Micayla Brady (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) had a team-high two caused turnovers. Sophomore Emma Jacobsen (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) made six saves to pick up the win.
LIU Post was led by Brianna Feldman who had a team-high three goals. Hailey Duchnowski made nine saves to take the loss.
Feldman got the Pioneers on the board first at the 28:19 mark. Isnardi answered with a free position goal to make it 1-1 with 27:29 left in the first half. Alyssa Mallery scored for LIU Post to give the Pioneers a 2-1 advantage with 25:28 on the clock.
The Mavericks answered with four straight goals to take a 5-2 lead with 16:38 remaining in the half. Keenan and Corace scored off assists from Shimborske and Isnardi tallied back-to-back goals to give Mercy a three-goal lead. Mallery made it 5-3 before Shimborske scored to give the Mavericks a 6-3 lead at the 10:33 mark.
LIU Post closed the half with three straight goals to tie the game up at 6-6 at halftime.
The Pioneers looked to have the momentum entering the second half, but Isnardi stepped up and scored the first two goals of the half to put Mercy back in front, 8-6, with 25 minutes left.
LIU Post followed with two unanswered goals to make it 8-8 with 12:30 left to play. Isnardi came up with an answer for Mercy less than a minute later to put the Mavericks up 9-8. Shimborske and Corace then netted back-to-back goals to give Mercy an 11-8 lead and despite a late LIU Post goal would hold on for the ECC Championship win.
Mercy held a 26-24 edge in shots and a 20-15 edge in ground balls. Mercy also held a 17-5 edge in draw controls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks will now await a possible NCAA Tournament berth with the selection show set to air Sunday, May 5th at 8:30 p.m.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.