SYRACUSE, N.Y. (Feb. 22, 2020) – Despite a game-high-tying five points from senior Tommy McPartland (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale), the No. 9/10 Mercy College men's lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought 12-11 decision to No. 2/3 Le Moyne College on Saturday afternoon at Ted Grant Field.
The Mavericks (2-1) drop their first game of the 2020 season, while the Dolphins (2-0) remain unbeaten.
McPartland had two goals and three assists and junior Dominic Scorcia (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey) had three goals and an assist. Sophomore Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College) had three goals and junior Marty Shargel (Agoura Hills, Calif./Onondaga CC) had two goals. Freshman TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) had a goal and an assist and freshman Robert Guglielmo (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) and sophomore Jake Fitzgerald (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) both had assists. Senior Kyle Gardner (Miller Place, N.Y./Rocky Point) had a team-high-tying two caused turnovers with four ground balls. Senior Antonio Rey (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) went 11-for-26 on faceoffs and had a team-high six ground balls. Sophomore Thomas Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made a career-high 17 saves to take the loss.
Le Moyne was led by Matt Hutchings who had a game-high four goals with an assist. Riley Smith had ten saves to earn the win.
In a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal matchup, the hosts took a 1-0 lead at the 13:02 mark when Hutchings found the back of the net. McPartland tied the game up at 1-1 with 8:51 left in the quarter following an assist from Guglielmo. A Kevin Sheehan goal with 4:01 on the clock gave the Dolphins a 2-1 lead after one quarter of play.
Scorcia knotted the score up at 2-2 following an assist from McPartland at the 13:27 mark of the second quarter. Sheehan gave the lead back to Le Moyne with 8:35 left in the half. Kearnan netted his first of the day a minute later to tie the game again at 3-3. The Dolphins followed with back-to-back goals to take a 5-3 lead with 5:10 left in the first half. A Shargel goal sent the Mavericks into halftime down just one, 5-4.
Le Moyne scored two of the first three goals in the third quarter with Heyder scoring for Mercy to make it 7-5 less than two minutes into the frame. The Mavericks ended the quarter with three straight goals from Scorcia and Kearnan to take an 8-7 lead after three quarters.
The Dolphins opened the fourth quarter with three straight goals to retake the lead at 10-8. Kearnan got the Mavericks to within one, 10-9, at the 7:27 mark before Sheehan netted another less than a minute later to give Le Moyne a two-goal lead, 11-9. Nick Cunningham made it 12-9 with 3:22 left, giving the hosts their largest lead of the game.
Le Moyne looked to have the game well in hand, but the Mavericks continued to battle and McPartland and Shargel scored to get Mercy within one, 12-11, with 55 seconds left. Mercy won the ensuing faceoff and both teams had a turnover before the Mavericks had the ball with five seconds left. Following a Le Moyne timeout, Mercy had a chance to tie but a Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) shot went wide right giving the Dolphins the win.
Le Moyne held a 51-32 edge in shots and 34-31 edge in ground balls.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks resume action on Sunday, March 1st when they host Lake Erie at 1 p.m.
