DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 23, 2019) – Powered by a game-high five points from sophomore Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and junior Katherine Sanchez (Freeport, N.Y/Freeport), the No. 16/18 Mercy College women's lacrosse team opened up ECC play with a 19-6 win over Roberts Wesleyan College on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (6-2, 1-0 ECC) have won two games in a row, while the Redhawks (8-2, 2-1 ECC) drop their first ECC game of the year.
Corace had three and two assists and Sanchez had four goals and an assist. Senior Hunter Isnardi (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) finished with four goals and eight draw controls and sophomore Casey Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had two goals and two assists. Freshman Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) had two goals and an assist and freshman Juliana Keenan (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) had a goal and two assists. Senior Erin Dingman (Watertown, N.Y./Onondaga CC), freshman Katie Jelliffe (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) and junior Brittani Sergio (Lake Grove, N.Y./Sachem North) also scored and freshman Kerri Cummings (Islip, N.Y./Islip) had two assists. Sophomore Emma Jacobsen (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) made six saves in the first 47:07 minutes of action to earn the win.
Roberts Wesleyan was led by Taylor Nathan who had a team-high three goals and Victoria Greco made four saves in the first 18:19 to take the loss.
Mercy came out on fire scoring the game's first nine goals to take a 9-0 lead at the 16:56 mark of the first half. Corace netted the first two goals before Isnardi and Sanchez scored to make it 4-0. Shimborske, Isnardi and Sanchez then followed with three more goals to increase the lead to 7-0 and Isnardi ended the run with two more goals to give Mercy a nine-goal lead.
Ellen O'Neil scored for the Redhawks at the 13:41 mark to make it 9-1. Shimborske netted her second of the day off an assist from Keenan to give Mercy a 10-1 lead. Emily Knight scored with 11:41 left in the half to make it 10-2, but the Mavericks ended the half with three straight goals to take a 13-2 lead at halftime. Jelliffe and Keenan recorded their first collegiate goals and Grzelaczyk scored the final goal of the half with 51 seconds left.
Dingman made it 14-2 off a pass from Cummings with 27:54 remaining. Emily Tomei made it 14-3 just under two minutes later, but Corace found the back of the net again to increase the lead to 15-3. Sanchez then recorded back-to-back goals to give Mercy a commanding 17-3 lead with 16:41 left to play. Nathan tallied her first of the day at the 12:58 mark to make it 17-4 before Grzelaczyk put forth her second goal of the game to give Mercy an 18-4 edge. Roberts Wesleyan scored two more goals to make it 18-6 before Sergio scored the final goal of the day to finish off the Mercy win.
Mercy held a 31-12 edge in shots and 16-14 advantage in ground balls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, March 26th when they play at Queens at 3 p.m.
