Career Days for McLachlan and Speicher Lead No.10/14 Men's Lacrosse to 13-7 Win Over Dowling in ECC Opener
Box Score OAKDALE, N.Y. (Mar. 21, 2015) – Led by a career-high four goals from junior Connor McLachlan (Albany, N.Y./Guilderland) and a career-high five points from sophomore Daniel Speicher (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford), the No. 10/14 Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned their fourth straight win with a 13-7 triumph over Dowling College in their ECC opener on Saturday afternoon.
The Mavericks (6-1, 1-0 ECC) are now off to their best start since the 2013 season and earn only their second win all-time against Dowling, while the Golden Lions (1-6, 0-2 ECC) drop their sixth straight after being ranked nationally to begin the season.
McLachlan finished with his career high in goals on six shots and also had two ground balls, while Speicher ended the contest with three goals and two assists on six shots. Junior Robert Rossi (North Massapequa, N.Y./Adelphi) added three goals and senior Jesse Wood (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic Central) chipped in a goal and two assists. Senior Owen Valance (Glen Cove, N.Y./McDaniel College) and sophomore Nick Wilcox (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) recorded Mercy's other goals with Wilcox also contributing an assist. Freshman goalkeeper Michael Schneider (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) made eight saves in improving to 4-0 in net on the year.
Dowling was paced by Eddie Hillkewicz who tallied four goals.
After an impressive performance in their last outing against Southern New Hampshire, the Mavericks would continue their strong play in their conference opener as they scored the first seven goals of the game to distance themselves from the home team.
Valance broke a scoreless tie with a man-up goal at the 9:12 mark in the first off a feed from junior Kyle Stockton (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) to give Mercy a 1-0 lead. Speicher would tally his first of the day with 5:51 left in the opening quarter off a pass from Wood to make it 2-0. McLachlan made it 3-0 with another man-up goal at the 4:50 mark before Wood closed out the frame with a goal with just under two minutes left in the first.
McLachlan and Wilcox teamed up to score the first three goals of the second quarter in a span of three minutes to give the Mavericks a commanding 7-0 lead with 10:50 left before halftime. The Golden Lions finally got on the board on a Hillkewicz goal at the 9:12 mark to make it 7-1. Rossi and Hillkewicz each put home a pair of goals for their respective teams to give Mercy a 9-3 lead at the intermission.
Dowling would creep closer in the third quarter with the first goal of the half to make it 9-4 with just under 14 minutes left in the period but Rossi answered right back to build the lead back up to six, 10-4. After another Hillkewicz goal, Speicher would close the scoring in the period at the 5:12 mark to make it 11-5 heading to the final quarter.
The Mavericks coasted the rest of the way as McLachlan and Speicher each found the back of the net in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Mercy was outshot 31-28, but was able to maintain a 33-28 edge in ground balls and won 13-of-24 face-offs.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks will look to win their fifth straight as they continue ECC play with a road matchup at District of Columbia on Wednesday, March 25th at 3 p.m.
