Davidson and DiFusco Combine For Seven Goals as Women's Lacrosse Earns 16-3 Victory Over Philadelphia U.
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 18, 2016) – Junior Tori DiFusco (Mahopac, N.Y./SUNY Cortland) and sophomore Grace Davidson (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) combined for seven goals as the Mercy College women's lacrosse team defeated the Rams of Philadelphia University, 16-3, on Friday afternoon.
The Mavericks (5-1) have won two games in a row and defeat the Rams (1-3) for the first time in four all-time meetings.
DiFusco ended the contest with a game-high five points on three goals and two assists, while Davidson added a game-high four goals. Freshman Hunter Isnardi (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) chipped in two goals, two assists, eight draw controls, three groundballs and two caused turnovers. Senior Meg McNally (Hillburn, N.Y./Lock Haven Univ.) finished with three goals and three groundballs and freshman Sarah Koehler (West Sayville, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) netted a goal and two assists. Sophomore Emily Jehle (Wading River, N.Y./Riverhead) tallied a goal and an assist and junior Alexa Haines (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) and freshman Kela Gelling (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) recorded the Mavericks other goals. Senior Nicole Kline (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) added an assist and junior Melissa DellaRocca (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) capped off the day with a team-high three caused turnovers.
Junior Jillian Rocco (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) made the start in net and went the first 30 minutes with only one goal allowed and six saves to earn the win and improve to 5-0. Junior Shianne Judson (Bayshore, N.Y./Bayshore) played the second half and made five saves.
The Rams were led by Liz Mower who had a team-high two goals. Felicia Branagan made the start in net and went the full 60 minutes with 14 saves in a losing effort.
Mercy has become accustomed to dominating the opposition at home and today was no different as they jumped out to a 6-1 halftime lead and cruised in the second half to their fifth straight home win.
The contest remained scoreless for just over six minutes before DiFusco broke through with the first goal of the day at the 23:46 in a man-up situation to put the Mavericks up 1-0. Nearly seven minutes went by until Davidson made it 2-0 with a free position goal with 17:06 left in the half, forcing a Rams timeout.
Philadelphia responded with a free position goal of their own with 14 minutes left in the half to make it 2-1 and looked to be in for a fight against Mercy. However, McNally tallied two of her three goals less than a minute apart to make it 4-1 Mavericks at the 9:54 mark. Isnardi capped off the scoring in the half with a pair to make it 6-1 Mercy heading into the intermission.
The Mavericks wasted little time in getting on the board in the second half as DiFusco added another just 15 seconds into the period off a feed from Isnardi to make it 7-1. Davidson and McNally put a pair into the back of the net just under eight minutes later to put Mercy up 9-1 with 21:48 left in the game.
The Rams answered with a pair to make it 9-3, but Davidson put an end to any hopes of a Philadelphia comeback with a goal immediately following the Rams answer to make it 10-3. Koehler got into the scoring column with a free position goal at the 16:07 mark and Davidson followed that up with a tally at the 15:09 mark to make it 12-3 Mavericks.
Gelling netted her second goal of the season off a free position attempt with 10:50 remaining to make it 13-3. Jehle, Haines and DiFusco finished off the scoring for the Mavericks to give Mercy a wire-to-wire victory over the Rams.
Mercy held a 39-16 edge in shots and a 19-14 advantage in groundballs. The Mavericks also held a 13-8 edge in draw controls and went 18-of-24 on clear attempts.
Head Coach Dawn Anselmin and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, March 22nd in Florida against the University of Tampa at 7:30 p.m.
