East Hartford, Conn. – Despite a team-high three points from graduate student Dominic Scorcia (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey) and senior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College), the Mercy College men's lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought 11-7 decision to University of Tampa in the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse National Championship Game on Sunday afternoon at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.
The Mavericks (16-2) fall in their first-ever appearance in the National Championship Game and become the first team in school history to finish as a National Runner Up. Mercy qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the third straight time and won their third straight ECC Championship. The Mavericks became the second program in history to reach the Final Four and reached a program-best ranking of No. 2 nationally during the season. The Spartans (21-0) end the season undefeated and win their first-ever National Championship.
Kearnan and Scorcia both had two goals and an assist and junior TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue), graduate student Matt Eccles (Syracuse, N.Y./University at Albany) and senior Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) each had a goal. Sophomore Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) had an assist and junior Justin Gerdvil (Northport, N.Y./Northport) had a game-high five caused turnovers. Junior PJ Argiros (Levittown, N.Y./Nassau CC) went 9-for-20 on faceoffs with five ground balls and senior Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made 11 saves to take the loss.
Tampa was led by Cole Willard who had a game-high four goals. Blake Ulmer made nine saves to earn the win.
The Spartans took a 1-0 lead at the 11:32 mark of the first quarter on a Daniel Fitzpatrick goal. The score remained 1-0 until there was 2:55 remaining in the quarter when Eccles scored to tie the game at 1-1. The score remained 1-1 after the first quarter of play.
Tampa scored the first six goals of the second quarter to take a 7-1 lead with 7:26 left in the half. Mercy continued to battle and Gibbons, Kearnan and Scorcia followed with three straight goals to cut the Spartans lead to three, 7-4, with 2:47 left before halftime. A Fitzpatrick goal with 2:01 on the clock gave Tampa an 8-4 lead at halftime.
A Luke McAnaney man-up goal at the 9:40 mark of the third quarter gave the Spartans a 9-4 lead. Kearnan and Heyder answered with two straight goals to trim the Tampa lead to three, 9-6, with 7:10 on the clock. Willard made it 10-6 just under two minutes later on a man-up goal. The Spartans headed into the fourth quarter with a 10-6 lead.
Scorcia opened the scoring in the fourth quarter, off an assist from Kearnan, to get Mercy back within three, 10-7, with 13:20 left. The Mavericks were unable to score again and Fitzpatrick added a late goal to give Tampa the 11-7 win and their first National Championship.
Mercy held a 34-33 edge in shots, a 33-32 edge in ground balls and went 9-for-22 on faceoffs. Mercy went 0-for-3 on the man-up and Tampa went 3-for-4 on the man-up.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.
