GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (Apr. 19, 2022) – Powered by a game-high-tying four points from junior TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue), the No. 5 Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned an impressive 10-6 win at No. 4 Adelphi University on Tuesday night at Motamed Field.
The Mavericks (10-1) have won seven games in a row and hand the Panthers (11-1) their first loss of the season in the schools' first-ever meeting. Mercy holds Adelphi to their fewest goals since March 4, 2020 when they scored six against Tampa. The Mavericks also hand Adelphi their first loss at home since May 4, 2019 against Le Moyne.
Heyder had three goals, an assist and two ground balls. Graduate students Dominic Scorcia (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey) and Matt Eccles (Syracuse, N.Y./University at Albany) both had a goal and two assists and graduate student Sean Makar (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Binghamton University) had a goal and an assist. Senior Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had two goals and sophomores Damiano Ferrara (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) and Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) also scored. Senior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College) had two assists and senior Jack Kipnes (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) had a team-high six ground balls with two caused turnovers. Senior Jake Fitzgerald (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham), junior Justin Gerdvil (Northport, N.Y./Northport) and senior Zack Higgins (Macungie, Pa./University of Hartford) each had two caused turnovers. Junior PJ Argiros (Levittown, N.Y./Nassau CC) went 7-of-14 on faceoffs with three ground balls. Senior Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made nine saves to earn the win.
Adelphi was led by Kyle Steinbach who had a game-high-tying four points on three goals and one assist. Dylan Renner made 12 saves to take the loss.
The game remained scoreless until the 9:55 mark of the first quarter when Steinbach found the back of the net to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. The score stayed 1-0 for over five minutes when Calabria scored with 4:33 on the clock to tie the game at 1-1. Scorcia netted a goal with 2:36 left in the quarter, off an assist from Kearnan, to give the Mavericks a 2-1 lead after one quarter.
Gibbons and Ferrara both tallied goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter to put the Mavericks up 4-1 with 10:26 left in the half. Eccles later made it 5-1 following an assist from Makar with 6:11 on the clock. The score remained 5-1 until the final 40 seconds of the period when Makar and Heyder closed the quarter with back-to-back goals to give Mercy a commanding 7-1 lead at halftime on the road.
Angelo Caiazzo opened the scoring in the third quarter to make it 7-2. However, Heyder put to bed any chances of an Adelphi comeback as he answered less than a minute later, off an assist from Scorcia, to make it 8-2. Steinbach later made it 8-3, but Gibbons scored with 59 seconds left in the quarter to give Mercy a 9-3 lead after three quarters.
Heyder recorded his third goal of the game at the 12:40 mark of the fourth quarter to make it 10-3. The Panthers scored the final three goals of the game to cut the deficit to four, 10-6, with 4:41 left. However, the deficit proved too much to overcome and the Mavericks held the Panthers scoreless for the final 4:41 to earn a key regional road win.
Mercy held a 37-29 edge in shots, a 35-29 edge in ground balls and went 10-for-20 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, April 23rd when they play at Roberts Wesleyan at 11 a.m.
