DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 19, 2022) – Powered by a game-high five points from graduate student Dominic Scorcia (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey), a game-high 13 ground balls from junior PJ Argiros (Levittown, N.Y./Nassau CC) and a game-high-tying 13 saves from senior Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford), the Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned an 11-8 win over The College of Saint Rose in their 2022 season opener on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (1-0) win their fourth straight season opener and improve to 9-0 all-time against the Golden Knights (1-1).
Scorcia had a game-high-tying three goals and a game-high-tying two assists. Senior Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) added a game-high-tying three goals and junior Robert Guglielmo (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) netted two goals and an assist. Graduate student Matt Eccles (Syracuse, N.Y./University at Albany) recorded a goal and two assists in his Mercy debut and sophomore Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School) also scored. Argiros added a goal, a game-high 13 ground balls and went 18-of-22 on faceoffs in his Mercy debut. Senior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College) and sophomore Tyler Pjatak (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) dished out assists. Senior Sean Rigley (Pleasant Hill, Calif./Onondaga CC) had a game-high three caused turnovers with two ground balls and junior Justin Gerdvil (Northport, N.Y./Northport) had two caused turnovers and three ground balls. Umano made a game-high-tying 13 saves to earn the win in goal.
Saint Rose was led by Cam Smith and Eddie Baker who both had a game-high-tying three goals. Christian Hunt played the first 19:29 in goal and made six saves to take the loss. Ryan Fleming played the final 40:31 in goal and made 13 saves, allowing just five goals.
Mercy wasted little time in scoring as Argiros won the opening faceoff and Scorcia found the back of the net less than 10 seconds in to give Mercy a 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-0 until the 11:09 mark when Eccles netted his first goal as a Maverick, off an assist from Guglielmo, to give Mercy a 2-0 lead.
Scorcia later assisted on a Caskenette goal with 7:04 left in the quarter to put the Mavericks up 3-0. Smith got Saint Rose on the scoreboard with his first of the day at the 4:23 mark to make it 3-1. The score remained 3-1 heading to the second quarter.
The score stayed 3-1 until the 11:31 mark of the second quarter when Guglielmo netted his first goal of the season to increase Mercy's lead to 4-1. Less than a minute later, Gibbons got in the scoring action when he netted his first of the season, off an assist from Makar, to make it 5-1. Gibbons followed with a man-up goal less than 30 seconds later to give Mercy a 6-1 lead. Smith scored the final goal of the quarter for Saint Rose with 9:03 on the clock. The Mavericks headed into halftime with a 6-2 lead.
The Golden Knights scored the first goal of the third quarter to get within three, 6-3, with 13:10 on the clock. Argiros won the ensuing faceoff and took the ball himself, scoring his first goal of the season, to put Mercy back up four, 7-3. Saint Rose later made it 7-4 at the 11:03 mark, but Gibbons answered less than a minute later with his third goal of the game to give Mercy an 8-4 lead.
Baker made it 8-5 with 7:17 left in the third quarter and just under two minutes later Guglielmo scored his second of the day to once again give Mercy a four-goal lead, 9-5, with 5:24 on the clock. Baker recorded the final goal of the quarter to send Saint Rose into the fourth quarter down, 9-6.
Saint Rose inched closer when Baker scored again at the 7:54 mark of the fourth quarter to cut Mercy's lead to just two, 9-7. The Mavericks responded with a goal with 5:39 left to make it 10-7. Gerdvil caused a turnover and scooped up the ground ball leading to a transition opportunity where Pjatak found Scorcia to give Mercy their 10th goal. Smith once again Saint Rose within two, 10-8, with 2:35 remaining after his third goal of the day. Scorcia finished off the game with his third goal of the day with 1:23 on the clock, after an assist from Eccles, to give Mercy an 11-8 lead they would not relinquish.
Mercy held a 50-28 edge in shots, a 43-21 edge in ground balls and went 18-of-22 on face-offs.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, February 22nd when they host Georgian Court at 2:30 p.m.
