OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (Apr. 3, 2018) – Led by a game-high seven points and 11 draw controls from junior Hunter Isnardi (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville), the No. 7/9 Mercy College women's lacrosse team earned a 13-7 victory over ECC foe No. 12/17 NYIT on Tuesday afternoon.
The Mavericks (9-1, 3-0 ECC) start 3-0 in ECC play for the first time in program history and start 9-1 for the second straight year, while the Bears (9-3, 2-1 ECC) drop their first ECC game of the year and were held to a season-low seven goals in the game.
Isnardi posted a game-high six goals and added an assist with two ground balls and one caused turnover. Senior Grace Davidson (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) recorded four goals and two ground balls and senior Emily Jehle (Wading River, N.Y./Riverhead) added a goal, three assists and a game-high three caused turnovers. Freshman Casey Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y/Farmingdale) scored an added an assist and sophomore Mary Mackie (Bellport, N.Y./Bellport) also scored. Sophomore Katherine Sanchez (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport) had a team-high four ground balls along with two caused turnovers. Freshman Emma Jacobsen (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) played the first half in goal and made three saves with just one goal allowed to earn the win. Senior Shianne Judson (Bayshore, N.Y./Bayshore) played the second half with one save.
NYIT was led by Alyssa Milano who had a team-high four goals and Ashley Miller made eight saves to take the loss.
Mercy came out strong against the nationally-ranked Bears with Isnardi scoring two goals in the first two minutes to make it 2-0 early on. Mackie recorded her lone goal of the game at the 17:12 mark to increase the Mavericks lead to 3-0.
Isnardi continued the Mercy scoring run with her third goal of the game with 16:09 left in the first half to make it 4-0. Shimborske added a free position goal to give the Mavericks a 5-0 advantage before Shannon Donovan scored right before halftime for NYIT to make the score 5-1 at halftime.
Davidson started the scoring in the second half with her first of the day, off an assist from Jehle, that increased the Mercy lead to 6-1. Donovan quickly made it 6-2, but the Mavericks responded with six unanswered goals in just over 11 minutes to take a commanding 12-2 lead with 14:16 left to play. Jehle began the run with an unassisted goal, Davidson added three more goals and Isnardi produced two more to cap off the run.
Milano scored her first two goals of the game to get the Bears within 12-4 with 10 minutes remaining. However, Isnardi tallied her final goal of the day on a free position shot which made it 13-4 with just over six minutes on the clock. NYIT scored three late goals, but the deficit proved too much to overcome as Mercy came away with the impressive road win.
Mercy held a 31-17 edge in shots, a 28-21 advantage in ground balls and 18-4 edge in draw controls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, April 7th when they host Molloy at 11 a.m.
