WALTHAM, Mass. (Feb. 29, 2020) – Powered by the game-winning goal with six seconds left from sophomore Taylor Bishop (West Milford, N.J./West Milford), the No. 11/12 Mercy College women's lacrosse team earned a 10-9 victory over No. 18/19 Bentley University on Saturday afternoon at Bentley Field.
The Mavericks (2-0) start 2-0 for the fifth straight season and defeat the Falcons (1-1) for the first time.
Bishop had a goal and an assist with two ground balls. Senior Katherine Sanchez (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport) had a game-high seven goals and five draw controls. Junior Casey Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had a goal and an assist and junior Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had a goal. Senior Talia Stagnitta (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) had two caused turnovers and three ground balls and sophomore Madeline Garvalosa (Seaford, N.Y./St. Anthony's) made eight saves to earn the win.
Bentley was led by Caroline Boudreau and Kenzie Lupton who both had three goals. Eliza Bresler made seven saves to take the loss.
Mercy opened the scoring with three straight goals to take a 3-0 lead with 21:36 left in the first half. Sanchez scored twice and Shimborske added her goal to give the Mavericks an early lead. Bentley followed with two straight goals to get within, 3-2, with 19:20 remaining in the first half.
Sanchez increased the lead to 4-2 after a free position goal at the 18:27 mark. Bentley closed the half with two goals in the final 2:30 of action to head into halftime tied with the Mavericks at 4-4.
Sanchez scored again at the 26:41 mark of the second half to put Mercy up 5-4. The Falcons rallied with three straight goals to take their largest lead of the game, 7-5, with 21:34 left in regulation. Sanchez and Corace tied the game up at 7-7 with 17:54 on the clock following back-to-back goals.
A Boudreau goal at the 11:46 mark gave the lead back to Bentley at 8-7. Sanchez continued her strong play and responded with two more goals to put Mercy back in front, 9-8, with 7:01 remaining. Glenna Gies tied the game up again at 9-9 with 6:01 on the clock.
The score remained tied at 9-9 heading into the final minute of play. The Falcons drew a free position attempt with 50 seconds on the clock, but Garvalosa came up with a huge save on Gies to keep the game tied. Mercy was able to clear the ball and Bishop took the ball from behind the net and drove to the front where she finished on the right side to put the Mavericks up 10-9 with six seconds on the clock.
Bentley won the ensuing draw control and drew a free position attempt with two seconds left. However, the Gies shot hit the post, giving Mercy the win.
Mercy held a 24-21 edge in shots and Bentley held a 19-17 edge in ground balls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, March 4th when they host Jefferson at 3 p.m.
