Nine Different Mavericks Score as No. 14 Men's Lacrosse Earns 16-12 ECC Win Over UDC
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 26, 2016) – Powered by nine different Mavericks recording a goal, highlighted by a game-high six points from senior Robert Rossi (North Massapequa, N.Y./Adelphi), the No. 14 Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned a 16-12 victory over East Coast Conference (ECC) foe the University of the District of Columbia on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (5-2, 2-1 ECC) have now won three of their last four games, while the Firebirds (2-4, 0-3 ECC) remain winless in ECC play.
Rossi finished with three goals, three assists and a team-high six groundballs, while freshman Ryan MacSpadyen (Toronto, Ontario/Seneca College) produced three goals, two assists and three groundballs. Freshman Bobby Chillianis (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) added a hat-trick with three groundballs and senior Kyle Stockton (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) netted two goals and two assists.
Junior Daniel Speicher (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) chipped in a goal and an assist and senior Thomas Lackaye (Summit, N.J./Summit), junior Richie Morris (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) and sophomores Ross Schnitzer (Scarsdale, N.Y./Loyola University Maryland) and Joseph Saltrelli (Webster, N.Y./Webster-Schroeder) rounded out the nine Mavericks to score. Schnitzer also added five groundballs and three caused turnovers and senior Mike Perrone (West Islip, N.Y./Florida Southern College) scooped up five groundballs. Senior A.J. Pellati (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) played the first half and made three saves to pick up the win and improve to 4-0. Sophomore Michael Schneider (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) appeared in the second half and made seven saves.
UDC was led by Chase Fraser who had a game-high four goals and seven groundballs. Pat Payne went the distance in goal and made 13 saves in a losing effort.
Mercy looked to bounce back from their tough loss to Dowling a week ago, but would see the Firebirds score less than a minute into the game to take a 1-0 lead. The Mavericks responded just under two minutes later when Chillanis netted his first of the day off a feed from Rossi to knot the score up at 1-1.
MacSpadyen continued the scoring for Mercy with a pair of goals to give the Mavericks a 3-1 lead with 7:55 left in the first quarter. LaRon Hinton came back and answered for UDC with a tally less than a minute later to cut the deficit to 3-2. Morris and Lackaye concluded the scoring in the quarter to put Mercy up 5-2 after one quarter of play.
Chillanis and MacSpadyen opened up the second quarter with back-to-back goals to give the Mavericks a 7-2 advantage with 8:40 left in the half. Tyler Mace got the Firebirds on the board at the 5:57 mark to cut the Mercy lead to 7-3 and the score remained the same heading into halftime.
Stockton opened the scoring in the second half to make it 8-3 just under two minutes into the third quarter. The visitors came back with two unanswered to get within three, 8-5, with 10:52 left in the frame. Three quick goals scored by Stockton, Saltrelli and Rossi put the Mavericks up 11-5 with 6:49 left in the quarter and looked to be in control.
Both teams would pick up a pair of goals to conclude the period with Rossi scoring both for the Mavericks, who held a 13-7 lead after three quarters. Mercy looked to have the game well in hand but UDC would not go down without a fight as they opened up the final quarter with four straight goals to cut the deficit to just two, 13-11, with 6:56 left, forcing a Mercy timeout.
Chillanis gave the Mavericks some cushion when he picked up his third of the day at the 3:54 mark, but Hinton immediately responded with a goal to make it 14-12 in favor of Mercy. That would be the closest the Firebirds got as Schnitzer and Speicher ended any hope of a comeback with goals just a minute apart to put the Mavericks up 16-12 with just two minutes left. Mercy held on for the victory and picked up their fourth win of the season at home.
The Mavericks outshot the Firebirds 42-39, but UDC finished with a 41-39 advantage in groundballs.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, March 29th when they host St. Thomas Aquinas College at 3 p.m.
