Wood Tallies Game-High Six Points as No. 1 Men's Lacrosse Faces No. 2 Pace in ECAC Championship Game
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (May 9, 2015) – Despite a game-high six points from senior Jesse Wood (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic Central), the No. 1 seed Mercy College lacrosse team suffered a 12-9 setback to No. 2 seed Pace University in the inaugural ECAC Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship Game on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The game's Most Outstanding Player was Pace goalkeeper Michael Bonitatibus who had 18 saves in earning his ninth win of the year.
The Mavericks (10-7) look to build off the program's first-ever postseason appearance heading into to next year, while the Setters (9-7) finish with the program's first-ever ECAC Championship.
Wood ended his season and career with two goals and four assists and leaves the program as the school's all-time leader in goals, assists and points. Junior Kyle Stockton (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) tallied three goals and an assist and sophomore Richie Morris (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) put together a two-goal afternoon. Junior goalie A.J. Pellati (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) made 10 saves in finishing the season at 2-4. Defensively, the Mavericks were led by junior Mike Perrone (West Islip, N.Y./Florida Southern) who had six ground balls and juniors Danny Chillianis (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) and Cameron Diedrickson (Kirkville, N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa) who each had two caused turnovers.
Pace was led by Anthony Gadaleta and Peter Sharp who each tallied three goals. Jeremy Wiley tallied a team-high six ground balls and Wiley, Brandon Donnellan and Steven Callahan each had two caused turnovers in the win.
Mercy, playing in their first postseason game, didn't look to have any nerves early on as Stockton found the back of the net at the 12:15 mark of the first quarter off a feed from Wood to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead.
However, the Setters regained themselves and rattled off three straight goals to close the quarter and take a 3-1 lead after one quarter of play, aided by back-to-back goals from Christopher Brown.
After nearly eight scoreless minutes in the second quarter, Pace tacked on a pair of goals just over a minute apart to build a 5-1 advantage with 6:23 left before halftime.
Mercy inched closer with a Wood man-up goal with 40 seconds left in the half to head into the intermission down 5-2.
The momentum would not carry over for the Mavericks as Liam Brennan put one past Pellati at the 12:13 mark of the third quarter to put Pace up 6-2. Two more goals just over 20 seconds apart gave the Setters a commanding 8-2 lead with 7:54 left in the frame, forcing a Mercy timeout.
Following the timeout, Stockton would net his 18th of the season to cut the deficit to 8-3, but the Setters scored two unanswered to build the lead to seven, 10-3, with 4:26 left in the third.
The Mavericks would close the third with two of the next three goals from Wood and Stockton to trail 11-5 heading to the fourth.
Mercy made things interesting early on in the fourth as sophomore Daniel Speicher (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) and Morris put forth goals less than five minutes in to cut the Pace lead to 11-7 with 10:10 remaining.
However, the Mavericks could not build off that momentum and Pace tacked on a goal at the 2:36 mark to make it 12-7. The deficit would prove too much to overcome for Mercy, despite goals from Morris and junior Ben Shepherd (Huntington Station, N.Y./Univ. of Tampa), giving the Setters the win and the ECAC Championship.
Pace held a 46-44 edge in shots and a 35-29 advantage in ground balls, while Mercy went 2-for-4 on man-up opportunities.
