Mercy Men's Lacrosse Dominates Chestnut Hill 13-3
Behind four goals from junior Sal Spinelli, the Mercy College men's lacrosse ran its win streak to three games, winning at Chestnut Hill College 13-3, in action on Saturday. Playing before 207 fans, the Mavericks (3-0, 2-0 East Coast Conference) thoroughly dominated CHC (1-2, 0-2 ECC), out shooting the hosts, 54-24.
Mercy also collected more ground balls (51-35), won more face offs (15-4), and had less turnovers (27-22).
The game started slowly, with the first quarter being fairly even. CHC took more shots, 9-7, with each team tallying once. Mike Melnychenko opened the scoring before Mercy freshman Quadear Mike (Syracuse, N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa) knotted the score. Mike now has scored Mercy's first goal in every game so far this season.
The second quarter was an entirely different story, as Mercy rattled off five consecutive goals to begin the period. Spinelli (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) scored the first and fifth of those goals, taking feeds from freshman Jesse Wood (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic) on both goals. Melnychenko scored his second goal of the game, stemming the run, cutting the lead to 6-2. Mike scored with 1:05 remaining, and Mercy led 7-2 at the break.
Sophomore John Fitzpatrick (Yorktown, N.Y./Lakeland) scored the only goal of the third period, before Spinelli tallied back-to-back markers to open the fourth quarter. Sophomore Alex Martello (Montville, N.J./Montville) continued the run before Melnychenko scored his third goal of the game for the Griffins. Wood and sophomore Frank Henenlotter (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook) scored to end the game, with the final score 13-3.
In goal, sophomore T. J. DiCarlo (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) made seven saves, with classmate Steven Hoch (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Lakeland) making two stops. For CHC, Dakota Maurer made 20 saves.
Spinelli led the attack with four goals, while Wood had a pair of goals and three assists and Mike had two goals and one assist.
Faceoff specialist John Lionetti (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) won 13 of the 15 draws he took, scooping up a game-high 11 groundballs.
The Mavericks now have a week off before hosting American International on Friday, March 11.
