DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 20, 2021) – Despite a team-high three points from junior Juliana Keenan (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge), the No. 14 Mercy College women's lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought 11-10 overtime decision to No. 23 Roberts Wesleyan College on Saturday afternoon in their Making Strides for Cancer Pink Game.
The Mavericks (2-1) suffer their first loss of the season, while the Redhawks (4-0) remain undefeated and defeat Mercy for the first time since 2014.
Keenan had a team-high tying two goals with an assist, one ground ball, one caused turnover and a team-high six draw controls. Graduate student Mary Mackie (Bellport, N.Y./Bellport) had a team-high-tying two goals with two caused turnovers. Freshmen Christina Lopreato (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and Kelly Rosenfeld (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) and sophomore Erin Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Adelphi University) all added a goal and an assist. Junior Kerri Cummings (Islip, N.Y./Islip) and seniors Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and Kellie Znaniecki (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) also scored. Znaniecki added four ground balls and three draw controls. Junior Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) recorded an assist and juniors Micayla Brady (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) and Hunter Savino (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) produced a team-high four caused turnovers. Senior Emma Jacobsen (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) played the first half in goal and made two saves. Junior Madeline Garvalosa (Seaford, N.Y./St. Anthony's) played the second half and overtime with one save to take the loss.
Roberts Wesleyan was led by Lindsey Brinkel who had a game-high five points on three goals and two assists. Natalie Arieno made 10 saves to earn the win.
The game was scoreless for nearly three minutes before Brinkel netted her first goal of the day at the 27:19 mark to make it 1-0. The Redhawks followed with two more goals to increase their lead to 3-0 with 23:52 left in the first half. Lopreato got the Mavericks on the board just over a minute later when she scooped up a ground ball in front of the net and fired the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-1.
Roberts Wesleyan answered with two straight goals to increase their lead to 5-1 with 15:31 remaining in the opening half. It remained 5-1 for nearly seven minutes before Corace scored, off an assist from Lopreato, at the 8:38 mark to make it 5-2. Cummings scored the final Mercy goal of the half with 26 seconds left to get the Mavericks within, 5-3. However, a Madison Bell with three seconds left gave Roberts Wesleyan a 6-3 lead at halftime.
Rosenfeld made it 6-4 with an unassisted goal at the 28:54 mark. Roberts Wesleyan responded with a goal just over two minutes later to build the lead back to three, 7-4. Mercy continued to battle and ensued with four straight goals to take an 8-7 lead with 12:44 left in regulation. Keenan scored her two goals during the run and Mackie and Shimborske got into the scoring column to give Mercy their first lead.
Alexis Grant tied the game up at 8-8 with 7:16 left before back-to-back goals from Znaniecki and Mackie gave the Mavericks a two-goal lead, 10-8, with 3:33 remaining in regulation. Grant and Brinkel answered for the Redhawks with back-to-back goals to tie the game up at 10-10 with 1:18 left. The game remained tied at the end of the regulation so the teams headed to overtime.
After a scoreless opening three minutes in the overtime period, the teams switched sides and Emily Tomei won the ensuing draw control. Madison Bell would net the game winner with 1:54 left in the overtime period to give Roberts Wesleyan the victory in overtime.
Mercy held a 25-16 edge in shots and 24-16 edge in ground balls. Roberts Wesleyan held a 15-9 edge in draw controls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, March 24th when they play at Georgian Court at 3:30 p.m.
