Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. - Powered by 18 faceoffs won by senior PJ Argiros and a game-high 14 saves from graduate student Tommy Umano, the No. 1 seeded Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned a 15-9 win over No. 2 seeded Frostburg State University to win their fourth straight East Coast Conference (ECC) Championship on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (14-3) defeat the Bobcats (13-5) in the final for the second straight year and have won four straight ECC Championships. Mercy now awaits a likely NCAA Tournament bid with the selection show scheduled for Sunday, May 7th at 7:30 p.m. at NCAA.com.
Argiros went 18-of-26 on faceoffs with a game-high 10 ground balls and Umano made 14 saves to earn the win in goal. For his efforts, Argiros was named the championship's Most Outstanding Player. Senior Brady Kearnan and graduate student Jack Gibbons both had a game-high six points on three goals and three assists and freshman Devon Duchnowski had three goals. Junior Andrew Calabria had a goal and three assists and senior TJ Heyder had three goals. Graduate student Thomas Connors had two goals and graduate student Jake Fitzgerald had a team-high two caused turnovers.
Frostburg State was led by Bubba Love who had a game-high-tying three goals. Mitch Meckley made 12 saves to take the loss.
Back-to-back goals from Love and a goal from Evan Dere gave the Bobcats a 3-0 lead with 8:42 left in the first quarter, leading to a Mercy timeout. Following the timeout, Argiros won the ensuing faceoff and Calabria found Gibbons who found the back of the net to make it 3-1. Connors and Duchnowski recorded back-to-back goals to tie the game at 3-3 with 2:55 remaining in the quarter and the teams headed into the second quarter tied at 3-3.
Frostburg State took a 4-3 lead at the 6:14 mark of the second quarter following a Seamus Kearney goal. Kearnan quickly answered with a goal from Calabria to tie the game at 4-4. Heyder gave the Mavericks their first lead of the game with 3:49 on the clock following a Kearnan assist, making it 5-4. Duchnowski, Kearnan and Gibbons closed the quarter with goals to give Mercy an 8-4 lead at halftime.
Kearnan made it 9-4 just over a minute into the third quarter. Love made it 9-5 at the 10:48 mark, but Connors scored with 8:15 on the clock to make it 10-5. Tanner Donaldson and Calabria traded goals to finish the quarter giving Mercy an 11-6 lead after three quarters.
Heyder gave Mercy a 12-6 lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter. Chase Buckwalter and Austin Sipes scored back-to-back goals to cut the Mavericks lead to four, 12-8, with 10:11 remaining, Mercy put an end to any hope of a comeback as Duchnowski and Heyder scored consecutive goals to give the Mavericks a 14-8 lead with nine minutes left. Donaldson later scored to make it 14-9 before Gibbons scored Mercy's last goal with 7:15 on the clock to make it 15-9. The Mavericks held the Bobcats scoreless for the final seven minutes of the game with Umano making two saves to give Mercy their fourth straight ECC Championship.
Frostburg State held a 42-37 edge in shots and Mercy held a 33-26 edge in ground balls and went 18-for-26 on faceoffs.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.
