Rookie Lopez Fires Men's Lacrosse to Early Lead at No. 4 LIU Post
Box Score BROOKEVILLE, N.Y. (Mar. 1, 2014) – Freshman Chris Lopez (Farmingdale, N.Y. / Farmingdale) stepped up in the spotlight to give the Mercy College men's lacrosse team an early lead at No. 4 LIU Post as the Mavericks matched the Pioneers through the first half before falling, 14-7, early Saturday.
Mercy, which received votes in the first United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division II Coaches' Poll last week, is now 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the East Coast Conference while LIU Post remains unbeaten at 2-0 (1-0).
Lopez fired the Mavericks to a 1-0 lead on the first possession as an unnecessary roughness penalty gave Mercy a man-up opportunity just 29 seconds into the game, and the rookie converted a pass from classmate Nick Wilcox (Hamburg, N.Y. / Hamburg) less than a minute into play. He tacked on his second just 32 seconds later as graduate student Kevin Glueckert (Bethpage, N.Y. / Univ. at Albany) won his second of six straight faceoffs to open the game.
LIU Post began to settle in at that point as both sides forced multiple turnovers over the next eight minutes before the Pioneers got on the board via a rebound on a save by sophomore A.J. Pellati (West Islip, N.Y. / West Islip). Mercy peppered the goal on the offensive end a minute later, forcing a save and seeing a shot blocked before junior C.J. Fleming (Middletown, N.Y. / Herkimer County CC) hit the back of the net with an unassisted strike to stretch the lead back out to two goals, all in the span of 20 seconds. The Pioneers responded just 44 seconds later to trim the margin to one and equalized two minutes after that on a man-up opportunity to close the first quarter.
Mercy regained the edge just 25 seconds into the second quarter as junior Zack Haun (West Seneca, N.Y. / West Seneca East Senior) posted an unassisted tally and drew a two-minute illegal body check penalty on LIU Post for an extra-man opportunity following the score. The Pioneers suffered three subsequent penalties that left them a man down over all but one minute and seven seconds of the next six minutes, but Mercy was unable to break through again despite ripping seven shots, five of which were on target.
Instead, LIU Post equalized while still a man down at the 8:15 mark. Mercy went back up with 6:49 left in the quarter when junior Jesse Wood (Binghamton, N.Y. / Seton Catholic Central) finished a pass from Fleming, but that would be the Mavericks' final lead of the game as the Pioneers scored at the 4:09 mark and just snuck through the defense with five seconds left in the half to go into the break with their first lead of the game at 6-5.
LIU Post quickly stretched out to a 9-5 lead that became 11-5 by the 3:14 mark in the third quarter before Mercy could get back on the board. It was Wood who stepped up to score unassisted with 2:09 left to play before assisting Haun on his second goal of the day with 40 seconds to go, cutting the margin to four at 11-7. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, that was as close as they came before the Pioneers went on to score three more goals to ice the game in the fourth quarter.
Glueckert starred on the faceoffs for Mercy, winning 16-of-25 (64 percent) while grabbing a game-high eight ground balls. Wood and senior Zachary Reinauer (Sparta, N.J. / Sparta) each grabbed four while junior Owen Krezmien (Buffalo, N.Y, / Canisius College) caused two turnovers. Pellati finished with 11 saves in the cage.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks will return to Dobbs Ferry to host American International College (0-2, 0-1) on Tuesday, March 4 at 3:00 p.m. A live video broadcast will be available through the team's schedule page at MercyAthletics.com and in-game updates will be provided via Twitter: @MercyMavericks.
Please continue to check MercyAthletics.com for up-to-date scheduling information, as games can be postponed due to severe weather conditions.
