DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (May 8, 2019) – Powered by a game-high four goals from junior Tommy McPartland (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) and senior Ryan MacSpadyen (Toronto, Ontario/Seneca College), the No. 4 seeded Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned a 15-10 victory over No. 5 seeded Seton Hill University in the First Round of the 2019 NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (18-1) have won five games in a row and win their first-ever NCAA Tournament game in their first appearance. Mercy will now travel to top-seed Le Moyne College for a Quarterfinal matchup on Saturday, May 11th at 12 p.m. The Griffins (12-5) end their season with two straight losses.
McPartland added two assists and MacSpadyen contributed an assist. Freshman Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) recorded two goals and an assist with four ground balls. Senior Bobby Chillianis (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) netted two goals and sophomore Dominic Scorcia (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey) had a game-high four assists. Juniors Anthony DeVito (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point), Robert LoRicco (Guilford, Conn./University at Albany) and Joe Cortese (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) also scored and seniors Max Littleton (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and Erik Badger (Fayetteville, N.Y./Onondaga CC) both had a game-high-tying three caused turnovers. Junior Antonio Rey (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) went 14-of-27 on faceoffs with four ground balls and senior Ryan Gibbons (Seaford, N.Y./Dowling College) made a game-high 14 saves to earn the win.
Seton Hill was led by Logan Maloni who had a team-high three goals. Max Eismann played the first 45:21 in goal and made nine saves to take the loss.
Mercy got off to a great start in front of a packed house at Mercy Field with McPartland scoring back-to-back goals to give Mercy a 2-0 lead at the 10:55 mark. DeVito and McPartland made it 4-0 with two more goals with 7:25 left in the first quarter. Dan Rupert scored for the Griffins to make it 4-1, but two goals from MacSpadyen put the Mavericks up 6-1 after one quarter of play.
Gibbons and Chillianis opened the scoring in the second quarter to put Mercy up 8-1 with 8:12 remaining before halftime. Seton Hill closed the half with three straight goals to head into halftime down, 8-4.
The Mavericks regained the momentum in the third quarter, scoring the period's first four goals to take a 12-4 lead at the 4:30 mark. Chillianis and MacSpadyen started the run and Cortese and LoRicco finished it off to put Mercy up eight.
The Griffins finished the quarter with back-to-back goals to make it 12-6 after three quarters.
MacSpadyen and Gibbons netted back-to-back man-up goals to open the fourth quarter, giving Mercy a 14-6 lead. Seton Hill answered with three straight goals to bring the score to 14-9 with 6:59 remaining. McPartland tallied his final goal of the day off an assist from Scorcia which put Mercy up 15-9. A late Maloni goal would not be enough for the Griffins, giving Mercy the win in their NCAA Tournament debut.
Mercy held a 36-29 edge in shots, a 36-31 advantage in ground balls and went 14-of-28 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, May 11th at 12 p.m. when they play at No. 1 seed Le Moyne in an NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal matchup.
