SYRACUSE, N.Y. (Mar. 2, 2022) – Despite a game-high-tying four goals from senior Juliana Keenan (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge), the No. 13/14 Mercy College women's lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought 10-9 decision to No. 3/4 Le Moyne College on Wednesday afternoon at Ted Grant Field.
The Mavericks (1-1) take their first loss of the season, while the Dolphins (1-0) open their season with a win.
Keenan now has a team-high 10 goals on the year and senior Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) had two goals and one assist. Graduate student Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had two goals and senior Taylor Bishop (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) added a goal and two assists. Senior Micayla Brady (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) had a game-high five ground balls with a team-high two caused turnovers. Sophomore Christina Lopreato (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had a team-high five draw controls and senior Madeline Garvalosa (Seaford, N.Y./St. Anthony's) made 10 saves in goal to take the loss.
Le Moyne was led by Erin McMullen who had a game-high five points on four goals and one assist. Paige Crandall made seven saves to earn the win.
The game remained scoreless until the 10:56 mark of the first quarter when Bishop scored on a free position shot to give Mercy a 1-0 lead. Grzelaczyk later made it 2-0 with 6:09 left in the quarter and Keenan followed with her first of the afternoon to give the Mavericks a 3-0 lead with 4:33 on the clock, forcing a Le Moyne timeout. After the timeout, the Dolphins scored the final two goals of the quarter to head into the second quarter down, 3-2.
Le Moyne netted the first two goals of the second quarter to take their first lead of the game at 4-3 with 11:40 on the clock. The nationally-ranked Dolphins looked to be finding their stride but the Mavericks showed they were up to the challenge as Keenan and Corace recorded back-to-back goals to give Mercy a 5-4 lead with five minutes left in the half. The Dolphins scored a man-down goal with 2:38 left in the half, sending the teams into halftime tied at 5-5.
McMullen scored less than a minute into the third quarter to give Le Moyne a 6-5 lead. The Mavericks battled back and scored the final three goals of the quarter to take an 8-6 lead after three quarters. Keenan tallied two more goals and Corace added her second of the game to give Mercy the lead.
The hosts scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 8-8 with nine minutes left. Grzelaczyk gave the Mavericks the lead back at 9-8 with a free position goal at the 4:46 mark. McMullen would tie the game at 9-9 with 56 seconds left and the Dolphins won the ensuing draw control. Jessica Meneilly found the back of the net with 11 seconds left to give Le Moyne a 10-9 lead and the Dolphins held on for the win.
Le Moyne held a 27-24 edge in shots and a 13-10 edge in draw controls. Mercy held an 18-15 edge in ground balls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, March 5th when they host Franklin Pierce at 11 a.m.
