DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 5, 2022) – Powered by nine different Mavericks scoring, the No. 13/14 Mercy College women's lacrosse team earned an 18-7 win over Franklin Pierce University in their home opener on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (2-1) improve to 12-1 all-time in home openers and defeat the Ravens (0-1) in the teams' first meeting.
Seniors Kerri Cummings (Islip, N.Y./Islip) and Juliana Keenan (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) led the way with a game-high-tying five points on three goals and two assists. Graduate student Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) netted three goals and senior Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) had two goals and one assist. Sophomore Kelly Rosenfeld (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) had two goals, one assist and four ground balls and senior Taylor Bishop (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) recorded two goals. Junior Erin Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Adelphi University) and freshman Leah Hansen (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields) tallied goals and freshman Leena Moussa (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) scored her first collegiate goal. Sophomore Ryleigh Hostinsky (Point Pleasant Borough, N.J./Point Pleasant Borough) dished out an assist and senior Micayla Brady (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) had a game-high six caused turnovers with four ground balls. Freshman Lindsey Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had four caused turnovers and three draw controls and sophomore Christina Lopreato (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had a team-high five draw controls. Senior Madeline Garvalosa (Seaford, N.Y./St. Anthony's) made nine saves in 53:45 minutes of action to earn the win.
Franklin Pierce was led by Kaitlyn Daly who had three goals. Erin Blake made 12 saves to take the loss.
The game remained scoreless until the 10:33 mark of the first quarter when Caroline Lounsbury scored to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Keenan tied the game at 1-1 just over a minute later with her 11th goal of the season. Gabrielle Oswald gave the Ravens a 2-1 lead with 7:31 left in the opening quarter. Corace tied the game again at 2-2 following a man-up goal, off a pass from Cummings, with 4:16 on the clock. Bishop gave Mercy the lead at 3-2 after Keenan set her up following a free position attempt. Keenan later put the Mavericks up 4-2 with her second goal of the game on a free position shot. Mercy headed into the second quarter up, 4-2.
Rosenfeld found the back of the net less than a minute into the second quarter to give Mercy a 5-2 lead. Erin Shimborske recorded her first goal of the season less than a minute later to increase the Mavericks lead to 6-2. Franklin Pierce made it 6-3 with a Daly goal at the 10:47 mark. Moussa increased Mercy's lead to four, 7-3, with 8:22 left in the half after her first collegiate goal. Bishop and Grzelaczyk closed out the scoring in the first half to give Mercy a 9-3 lead at halftime.
Franklin Pierce scored the first goal of the third quarter to make it 9-4. However, Mercy put an end to any hopes of a Ravens comeback as Corace and Hansen netted back-to-back goals to put the Mavericks up 11-4 with 10:45 left in the third quarter. Daly found the back of the net again at the 6:21 mark to make it 11-5, but Mercy closed the quarter with three straight goals to take a 14-5 lead after three quarters. Cummings recorded back-to-back goals and Rosenfeld scored a free position goal to give Mercy a nine-goal lead.
The Ravens scored two straight goals to open the fourth quarter, making it 14-7. Mercy ended the game with four straight goals to earn the 18-7 convincing win. Keenan, Cummings, Corace and Grzelaczyk all scored in the fourth quarter, leading the Mavericks to a home-opening win.
Mercy held a 42-21 edge in shots and a 26-21 edge in ground balls. Franklin Pierce held an 18-11 edge in draw controls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, March 9th when they host nationally-ranked Adelphi at 3 p.m.
