Speicher Produces Game-High-Tying Five Points as No. 13 Men's Lacrosse Earns 14-12 Victory Over UDC in ECC Opener
Box Score WASHINGTON, D.C. (Mar. 18, 2017) – Powered by a game-high-tying five points from senior Daniel Speicher (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford), the No. 13 Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned a 14-12 victory over the University of the District of Columbia in their ECC opener on Saturday afternoon at Cooper Field.
The Mavericks (5-2, 1-0 ECC) have won two of their last three games and win their ECC opener for the third straight year, while the Firebirds (3-3, 1-2 ECC) fall below .500 in ECC play.
Speicher had three goals and two assists, recording his 100th career point in the process to become the fifth Maverick in program history to reach the mark. Freshman Tommy McPartland (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) and senior Nick Wilcox (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) added three goals apiece and sophomore Ryan MacSpadyen (Toronto, Ontario/Seneca College) contributed two goals and an assist. Sophomore Bobby Chillianis (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) scored twice and junior Chris Martinez (Uniondale, N.Y./Nassau CC) also tallied a goal. Graduate student Kevin McNally (Hillburn, N.Y./SUNY Albany) dished out two assists and freshman Anthony DeVito (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point) netted his first assist of the season. Sophomore Nick Sehring (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had a team-high-tying five ground balls and went 15-of-25 on face-offs. Junior Christian Gebhardt (West Islip, N.Y./Nassau CC) helped lead the defense with three caused turnovers, while sophomore goalie Ryan Gibbons (Seaford, N.Y./Dowling College) made 15 saves to earn the win and improve to 5-2.
UDC was led by Zach Hart who had a game-high five goals, while LaRon Hinton chipped in four goals and an assist. Goalie Nikolas Lund-Murray made eight saves in a losing effort.
Mercy looked to get back in the win column and Speicher got the Mavericks on the board less than a minute in to give Mercy an early 1-0 lead. MacSpadyen later made it 2-0, off an assist from McNally, at the 7:22 mark of the opening quarter before the Firebirds scored their first of the day to make it 2-1.
Martinez, McPartland and MacSpadyen followed with three straight unassisted goals to put the Mavericks up 5-1 with just over a minute left in the period. Hart picked up a goal just nine seconds after Mercy scored to make it 5-2 after one quarter of play.
The Mavericks began the second stanza with three consecutive goals as Wilcox, Chillianis and McPartland tallied goals to increase the Mercy advantage to 8-2 with 12:11 remaining in the half. UDC put together a 2-0 run to bring the score to 8-4, but the Mavericks ended the half with goals from Wilcox and Speicher to hold a 10-4 lead at halftime.
The Firebirds outscored Mercy 5-2 in the third quarter to make it 12-9 Mavericks after three quarters as McPartland and Speicher scored again in the frame.
Chillianis and Wilcox opened the scoring in the fourth quarter to put the Mercy lead to 14-9 with 8:42 remaining. UDC came back with three goals in a row to make it 14-12 with 16 seconds left, but time would run out on the comeback bid and the Mavericks came away with the victory.
UDC held a 40-34 edge in shots and a 36-31 advantage in ground balls, while Mercy won 18-of-30 face-offs.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks look to make it two wins in a row when they host Roberts Wesleyan College on Saturday, March 25th at 11 a.m.
