LOCK HAVEN, Pa. (Feb. 24, 2022) – Powered by a career-high seven points from senior Juliana Keenan (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) and a game-high six caused turnovers from senior Micayla Brady (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa), the No. 14/15 Mercy College women's lacrosse team opened its 2022 season with a 14-7 win over Lock Haven University on Thursday afternoon at Charlotte Smith Field.
The Mavericks (1-0) win their 10th straight season opener, while the Bald Eagles (0-1) open their season with a loss.
Keenan had a career-high six goals to go along with an assist. The senior also added two caused turnovers and two ground balls. Brady added three ground balls and now has 100 career caused turnovers. She becomes the fourth Maverick in program history to record 100 caused turnovers. Freshman Leah Hansen (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields) had two goals and one assist in her Mercy debut and senior Taylor Bishop (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) recorded three goals and one assist. Sophomore Kelly Rosenfeld (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) added a goal and an assist and senior Kerri Cummings (Islip, N.Y./Islip) dished out a game-high three assists. Graduate student Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and senior Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) also scored for the Mavericks. Senior Alexandra Bigilin (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) produced four ground balls and three caused turnovers and senior Hunter Savino (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) had four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Senior Madeline Garvalosa (Seaford, N.Y./St. Anthony's) played the first half in goal and made five saves to earn the win.
Lock Haven was led by Josey Shaffer who had a team-high three goals. Lauren Girardi made 17 saves to take the loss.
The game remained scoreless until the 12:05 mark of the first quarter when Cummings found Corace to give Mercy a 1-0 lead. The Bald Eagles answered with two straight goals to take a 2-1 lead with 7:22 left in the quarter. Hansen's first collegiate goal tied the game at 2-2, but the hosts took the lead back following a Zoe Waddell goal with 3:06 on the clock. Keenan ended the quarter with back-to-back goals to give Mercy a 4-3 lead after the first quarter.
Bishop netted her first two goals of the season to give the Mavericks a 6-3 lead with 5:45 left in the second quarter. Keenan and Hansen added two more goals before halftime to give Mercy an 8-3 lead at the intermission.
Lock Haven opened the scoring in the third quarter to make it 8-4. However, Bishop, Grzelaczyk and Keenan answered with three straight goals to put Mercy up, 11-4, with 4:49 left in the quarter. Back-to-back goals from the Bald Eagles cut the Mavericks lead to, 11-6, after three quarters.
The hosts scored first in the fourth quarter to trim Mercy's lead to four, 11-7, less than a minute into the quarter. The Mavericks defense, led by Brady, would not allow another goal for the remainder of the contest. Rosenfeld tallied her first goal of the season at the 5:56 mark and Keenan contributed two more goals to lead Mercy to the win.
Mercy held a 37-14 edge in shots and a 26-20 edge in ground balls. Lock Haven held a 13-12 edge in draw controls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, March 2nd when they play at Le Moyne at 3 p.m.
