ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Mar. 29, 2019) – Powered by a career-high eight goals, including the 100th of her career, from junior Katherine Sanchez (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport), the No. 15/17 Mercy College women's lacrosse team earned a 21-13 victory over ECC foe Molloy College on Friday night.
The Mavericks (8-2, 3-0 ECC) have won four games in a row, while the Lions (8-5, 2-2 ECC) fall to .500 in ECC play.
Sanchez entered the game with 98 career goals and had a game-high eight goals with five draw controls and two ground balls. Senior Hunter Isnardi (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) finished with six goals, an assist, a game-high 13 draw controls, two caused turnovers and four ground balls. Sophomore Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) recorded three goals and sophomore Casey Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) finished with two goals and an assist. Senior Erin Dingman (Watertown, N.Y./Onondaga CC) and freshman Micayla Brady (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) also scored and junior Mary Mackie (Bellport, N.Y./Bellport) had three assists. Sophomore Emma Jacobsen (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) made 13 saves to earn the win.
Molloy was led by Brianna Wilson who had a game-high nine points on seven goals and two assists. Allie Long made nine saves to take the loss.
The Lions took a 1-0 lead on a Wilson goal at the 27:06 mark of the first half. Shimborske made it 1-1 on a free position shot before Amanda Reyes gave Molloy a 2-1 advantage with 24:16 remaining in the first half.
Sanchez tied the game up at 2-2 and Isnardi gave the Mavericks the lead with two straight goals to make it 4-2 with 18:31 left before halftime. Dingman and Corace rattled off unassisted goals to increase the Mavericks lead to 6-2 at the 13:41 mark. Ali Pfeifer scored to make it 6-3, but Isnardi, Brady and Sanchez followed with three straight goals to put the Mercy lead to 9-3 with 6:39 on the clock.
Wilson and Sanchez traded goals before Casie Caiazza scored right before halftime to cut the Mercy lead to 10-5 at halftime.
The second half saw Sanchez, Corace and Isnardi score in the first five minutes to give the Mavericks a 13-5 advantage. Molloy answered with two straight goals to make it 13-7, but Shimborske answered with a free position goal to increase the Mercy lead to 14-7. Caiazza brought the score to 14-8, but Isnardi and Sanchez fired off two goals in a row to give the Mavericks a 16-8 edge with 17:48 remaining.
After a Wilson goal made it 16-9, Sanchez tacked on two more goals to give Mercy an 18-9 lead with 12 minutes left to play. Two more Wilson goals cut the Mercy lead to 18-11 before Sanchez and Corace scored their final goals of the day to put the lead to 20-11 with 6:40 remaining. Isnardi scored the final Maverick goal at the 2:11 mark and the Lions posted two more goals but it was not enough as Mercy came away with the road win.
Mercy held a 40-31 edge in shots and a 21-13 edge in ground balls. The Mavericks held a 21-13 edge in draw controls and went 5-of-8 on free-position shots.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, April 2nd when they play at West Chester at 4 p.m.
