ERIE, Pa. (April 13, 2021) – Powered by senior Dominic Scorcia (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey) scoring a game-high six goals and recording his 100th career goal, the No. 4/8 Mercy College men's lacrosse earned a big 15-13 road victory over national power No. 3 Mercyhurst University on Tuesday afternoon at Saxon Stadium.
The Mavericks (6-0) pick up their first ever win over the Lakers (7-1) who suffer their first loss of the season. Mercy was previously 0-4 all-time against Mercyhurst. The Lakers have made the NCAA Tournament six times since 2010 and won the National Championship in 2011. The loss for Mercyhurst snaps a 12-game winning streak dating back to last year. The loss is the first regular season home loss for the Lakers since April 7, 2018 against Seton Hill. The No. 3 ranked Lakers is the second highest ranked team the Mavericks have defeated in program history and the highest ranked team they have beaten on the road. The Mavericks win over No. 2 Le Moyne at home in 2019 is the highest.
Scorcia becomes the sixth Maverick to record 100 career goals and he added an assist for a game-high seven points. Junior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College) had four goals and one assist and junior Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had one goal and two assists. Graduate student Tommy McPartland (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) netted a goal and an assist and junior Jake Fitzgerald (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham), sophomore Robert Guglielmo (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) and freshman Andrew Calabria (Sachem, N.Y./Sachem North) also scored. Fitzgerald also added a team-high three caused turnovers. Senior Joseph Guglielmo (Coral Springs, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas), sophomore TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) and freshman Damiano Ferrara (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) added assists. Ferrara also added four ground balls and junior Jack Kipnes (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) had five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Graduate student Antonio Rey (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) went 14-of-31 on face-offs and had a game-high 10 ground balls. Junior Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made a game-high 12 saves to earn the win and improve to 6-0 on the year.
Mercyhurst was led by Devin Pipher who had a team-high three goals. Cole Pellicano made six saves to take the loss.
The matchup of top 10 teams saw the Lakers get on the board first when Caleb Kueber opened the scoring at the 14:03 mark to make it 1-0. The Mavericks showed they belonged on the big stage and rattled off five straight goals to take a 5-1 lead. Scorcia, Kearnan, Guglielmo, Gibbons and Calabria all scored to give Mercy a four-goal lead. Mercyhurst closed out the period with three straight goals to cut the Mavericks lead to 5-4 after one quarter.
Scorcia gave the Mavericks a 6-4 lead with 13:20 left in the half on his second of the day. The Lakers answered just over a minute later to make it 6-5 before Kearnan netted his second of the day to give the Mavericks a 7-5 advantage with 11:14 on the clock. The Lakers rallied with two straight goals to tie the game at 7-7 with 8:26 left in the half. The score remained tied until the 3:43 mark when Kearnan found the back of the net for the third time to give Mercy an 8-7 lead at halftime.
Mercyhurst won the opening face-off of the third quarter but Umano made two key saves to keep the Lakers from scoring. Fitzgerald later recorded a caused turnover and he would score his first career goal in a big spot, following an assist from Ferrara, to make it 9-7. The Lakers answered again with two goals to tie the game again at 9-9 with 7:33 remaining in the quarter. Rey won the ensuing face-off and Kearnan tallied his fourth goal of the day to give Mercy the lead back at 10-9. Scorcia closed out the scoring in the quarter, off an assist from Kearnan, to give the Mavericks an 11-9 lead after three quarters of play.
Scorcia scored again to open the fourth quarter, giving Mercy a 12-9 lead less than a minute into the quarter. A Nathan Grenon goal for the Lakers made it 12-10, but Scorcia quickly answered to increase the Mavericks lead back to three, 13-10, with just under 10 minutes to play. The score remained 13-10 heading into the final five minutes of the contest and the Mavericks could smell the upset. Scorcia helped put the finishing touches on the win with his 100th career goal and sixth of the day with 3:59 left to play, making it 14-10. McPartland gave Mercy their largest lead of the day, 15-10, when he scored with 2:34 left. Mercyhurst scored three goals in the final minute of play but it was not enough as the Mavericks came away with the upset win on the road.
Mercyhurst held a 49-27 edge in shots, a 38-36 edge in ground balls and Mercy went 14-of-31 on face-offs.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, April 17th when they host No. 15 Frostburg State at 3 p.m.
