Wood and Rossi Combine For 10 Points as No. 11/13 Men's Lacrosse Defeats No. 9 Molloy, 15-11
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Apr. 11, 2015) – Powered by a six-point afternoon from senior Jesse Wood (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic Central) and four goals by junior Robert Rossi (North Massapequa, N.Y./Adelphi), the No. 11/13 Mercy College men's lacrosse team took one step closer to securing the program's first ever berth in the ECC playoffs with a 15-11 defeat of No. 9 Molloy College on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (9-2, 4-1 ECC) win their second straight overall and their fifth straight over the Lions, while Molloy (7-3, 2-3 ECC) has now dropped two out of their last three.
Wood ended up with three goals and three assists on five shots, while Rossi put together his four goals on 11 shots. Sophomore Nick Wilcox (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) netted three goals and an assist on seven shots and junior Connor McLachlan (Albany, N.Y./Guilderland) added two goals and an assist. Junior Kyle Stockton (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) finished the game with a goal and two assists, while senior Anthony Accardi (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Nyack) and sophomore Daniel Speicher (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) recorded the Mavericks other two goals. Freshman goalkeeper Michael Schneider (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) made nine saves to earn the victory and improve to 7-1.
Molloy was led by Joe Leonard who had four goals and two assists on 12 shots.
In a game with much hype and playoff implications, Mercy would come out looking like a team on a mission as they netted the first two goals of the game with Wilcox and Wood scoring less than three minutes in to give the Mavericks a 2-0 lead.
A Tom Engelhardt goal at the 10:24 mark of the first quarter cut the lead to 2-1. However, Mercy responded by scoring the next four goals of the period to take a 6-1 lead after one and show they were ready for the ninth-ranked Lions. Rossi produced back-to-back goals, while Stockton and McLachlan ended the quarter with their first tallies of the day.
Molloy made a mini run in the second quarter as they scored the first two goals of the quarter to cut the Mercy lead to 6-3 with 6:36 left before halftime. McLachlan put an end to the run with his second of the day off a feed from Wood and Wood concluded the scoring in the frame with a man-up goal from Stockton to give the Mavericks an 8-3 lead at halftime.
The Lions came out of the gates in the second half strong with a pair of goals less than three minutes in to cut the deficit to 8-5. Goals by Speicher and Wilcox and a pair from the guests made it 10-7 with 1:43 left in the third quarter. Wilcox found the back of the net again with 19 seconds left to give the Mavericks an 11-7 advantage after three quarters.
The final quarter saw Mercy start with a man-up opportunity after a Molloy penalty late in the third and Rossi capitalized for his third goal of the day off an assist from Wood to make it 12-7. Just over 30 seconds later Rossi struck again this time off a pass from Stockton to make it 13-7 with just over 14 minutes left to play.
After nearly eight scoreless minutes, the Mavericks extended their lead to a game-high seven goals, 14-7, following a Wood goal at the 6:51 mark. Following a Leonard goal, Accardi would get in the action with his first collegiate goal with 6:38 remaining to make it 15-8. The Lions tacked on four goals at the end to make the final score more respectable, but by that time Mercy had sent its message to Molloy and the rest of the ECC that the Mavericks belong in the playoffs.
Mercy held a 52-33 edge in shots and a 38-33 margin in ground balls, while winning 16-of-29 faceoffs.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks look to build off the big win as they host another ranked opponent in NYIT on Tuesday, April 14th at 3 p.m.
