DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 17, 2019) – Led by a career-high 19 saves from senior Ryan Gibbons (Seaford, N.Y./Dowling College) and a game-high four goals from senior Bobby Chillianis (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage), the No. 15 Mercy College men's lacrosse team upset five-time National Champions No. 2 Le Moyne College with a, 10-7, victory on Sunday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (2-0) start 2-0 for the first time since 2017 and the victory against the Dolphins (0-1) is their highest ranked win over an opponent in program history. Le Moyne suffers their first season-opening loss since 1999 and score their fewest goals in a game since May 13, 2017 against Merrimack.
Chillianis also added an assist, a ground ball and a caused turnover. Junior Tommy McPartland (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) finished with three goals and an assist and became the eighth Maverick in school history to record 100 points. Senior Ryan MacSpadyen (Toronto, Ontario/Seneca College) had two goals and two assists and freshman Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) finished with a goal and two assists. Junior Kyle Gardner (Miller Place, N.Y./Rocky Point) recorded a game-high four caused turnovers and scooped up five ground balls. Gibbons posted 19 saves and had five ground balls to earn his second win of the year.
Le Moyne was led by Evan Kelly who scored two goals. Riley Smith made five saves to take the loss.
Mercy jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with 12:10 left in the opening quarter. Chillianis started the scoring with an unassisted goal and MacSpadyen found the back of the net on an assist from McPartland to make it 2-0. The Dolphins answered back with two man-up goals to tie the game up at 2-2 with 7:01 left in the quarter. Chillianis closed the quarter out with two straight goals to give Mercy a 4-2 lead after one quarter of play.
McPartland gave the Mavericks a 5-2 lead when he tallied a man-up goal at the 11:48 mark of the second quarter. Le Moyne finished the quarter out with two goals in a row to cut the Mercy lead to 5-4 at halftime.
The Dolphins came out of halftime and scored the quarter's first two goals to take their first lead of the game, 6-5, with 8:40 remaining in the period. The No. 2 team in the country looked to have regained the momentum from the Mavericks, but Mercy showed they could hang and finished off the quarter with three consecutive goals to retake the lead at 8-6. Jack Gibbons and MacSpadyen started the run with two even-strength goals before McPartland netted his second man-up goal of the day to give the Mavericks a two-goal lead after three quarters.
McPartland gave the Mavericks a three-goal advantage when he recorded his third man-up goal of the afternoon on an assist from Jack Gibbons to put the Mercy lead to 9-6 with 10:10 remaining. Le Moyne crept closer when Kelly scored at the 6:41 mark. Ryan Gibbons made four saves in the period to limit the Dolphins and Chillianis put the finishing touches on the win with his fourth goal of the day with 39 seconds left to make it 10-7.
Le Moyne held a 46-31 edge in shots, a 34-27 advantage in ground balls and won 11-of-20 faceoffs. Le Moyne went 3-of-9 on extra-man opportunities and Mercy went 3-of-6 on the man-up.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, February 20th when they play at Georgian Court at 2:30 p.m.
