MELBOURNE, Fla. (Mar. 11, 2020) – Powered by a game-high four goals from senior Katherine Sanchez (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport), the No. 11 Mercy College women's lacrosse team earned a 10-3 victory over No. 25 Florida Tech on Wednesday night.
The Mavericks (4-1) defeat their second nationally-ranked opponent this season, while the Panthers (6-2) suffer their second loss of the season. The three goals allowed are the fewest allowed to a nationally-ranked opponent in program history. The three goals scored by Florida Tech are their fewest scored in a game in program history.
Sanchez added three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Sophomore Taylor Bishop (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) added three goals and junior Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and sophomores Juliana Keenan (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) and Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) also scored. Senior Brittani Sergio (Lake Grove, N.Y./Sachem North), junior Casey Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale), sophomore Kerri Cummings (Islip, N.Y./Islip) and freshman Erin Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Adelphi University) dished out assists. Senior Talia Stagnitta (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) had a team-high three caused turnovers with two ground balls and sophomore Micayla Brady (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) had two caused turnovers and five ground balls. Sophomore Madeline Garvalosa (Seaford, N.Y./St. Anthony's) made seven saves to earn the win.
Florida Tech was led by Alexis Townsend who had a team-high three goals. Madison Fields made eight saves to take the loss.
Mercy opened the scoring at the 23:00 mark when Sanchez scored to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead. Bishop followed with her first of the day just under four minutes later to make it 2-0. Townsend scored the first Panther goal with 10:45 remaining in the opening half to get the hosts within 2-1.
Sanchez responded with two straight goals to give the Mavericks a 4-1 advantage with 9:21 on the clock. Bishop and Corace closed the half with back-to-back goals to put Mercy up 6-1 at halftime.
Townsend started the second half with a goal less than a minute into the half to make it 6-2. However, Grzelaczyk followed with her goal just under two minutes later to give Mercy a 7-2 lead. It remained 7-2 until the 12:11 mark when Keenan scored following a pass from Cummings to increase the lead to 8-2.
The Panthers scored their final goal at the 9:23 mark to make it 8-3. Bishop and Sanchez capped off the scoring for the Mavericks and Mercy did not allow a goal in the final 9:23 to secure the win.
Mercy held a 24-14 edge in shots and ground balls were tied at 25-25.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, March 14th when they play at No. 7 Florida Southern at 1 p.m.
