PURCHASE, N.Y. (May 22, 2022) – Powered by the game-winning goal in double overtime from graduate student Dominic Scorcia (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey), off an assist from sophomore Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North), and a game-high 16 saves from senior Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford), the No. 1 seeded Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned a 12-11 win over defending national champion No. 3 seeded Le Moyne College in an NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship National Semifinal on Sunday afternoon at SUNY Purchase. The Mavericks advance to the National Championship Game for the first time in program history and men's lacrosse becomes the first program in Mercy College history to advance to the National Championship Game.
The Mavericks (16-1) have won 13 games in a row and defeat the Dolphins (16-4) for just the second time in program history. Mercy hands Le Moyne their fourth loss of the season, which is the most losses the Dolphins have had in a season since 1999. Mercy becomes the first ECC school to play for the title since LIU Post in 2014. Mercy will face Tampa in the National Championship Game on Sunday, May 29th at 4 p.m. at Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.
Scorcia had three goals and now has 51 goals on the year, setting a school-record for goals in a single season. The previous record was 48 set by Jesse Wood in 2014. Senior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College) had a game-high five points on two goals and three assists and graduate student Matt Eccles (Syracuse, N.Y./University at Albany) had three goals. Senior Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had two goals and an assist and graduate student Robert LoRicco (Guilford, Conn./University at Albany) and sophomore Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School) each had a goal. Graduate student Sean Makar (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Binghamton University) and sophomores Damiano Ferrara (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) and Calabria each had an assist. Junior PJ Argiros (Levittown, N.Y./Nassau CC) went 14-for-24 on faceoffs with six ground balls and junior Justin Gerdvil (Northport, N.Y./Northport) had a caused turnover and ground ball. Umano made 16 saves to earn the win.
Le Moyne was led by Colin Sypek and Zach Pierce who both had a team-high four points on two goals and two assists. Frank Delia made 12 saves to take the loss.
In a game that saw neither team lead by more than one goal throughout, the Mavericks opened the scoring at the 14:20 mark of the first quarter on an Eccles goal to take a 1-0 lead. Sypek answered quickly for the Dolphins to tie the game at 1-1. Kearnan later gave the Mavericks a 2-1 lead just under a minute later. Pierce tied the game at 2-2 with his first goal of the day at the 11:04 mark. Devin Andrews later gave the Dolphins a 3-2 lead with 5:31 left in the quarter. Scorcia scored the final goal of the quarter with 1:25 on the clock to send the teams into the second quarter tied at 3-3.
Eccles found the back of the net again at the 13:31 mark to make it 4-3. Pierce knotted the game at 4-4 two minutes later with his second goal. Kearnan netted the final goal of the quarter to give Mercy a 5-4 lead at halftime.
Le Moyne scored the first two goals of the third quarter to take a 6-5 lead with 11:41 on the clock. Umano made two key stops to keep the Dolphins from extending their lead and Caskenette and Eccles responded with back-to-back goals to give Mercy the lead back at 7-6 with 6:59 left in the period. The Dolphins followed with two straight goals of their own to retake the lead at 8-7 with 3:25 on the clock. Gibbons later tied the game at 8-8, but Carter Collins scored the final goal of the quarter to give the Dolphins a 9-8 lead after three quarters.
The Mavericks opened the fourth quarter with two straight goals from LoRicco and Scorcia to take the lead back at 10-9 with 9:32 remaining in regulation. Le Moyne rallied with two unanswered goals to take an 11-10 lead with 7:19 to play in the fourth quarter. Umano made two saves, including one on the doorstep of a Ben McCreary shot, to keep the Mavericks down just one with less than a minute to play. After a Mercy timeout, Gibbons found the back of the net, off an assist from Kearnan, to tie game at 11-11 with 16 seconds left. Neither team would score in the final seconds of regulation, sending the game into overtime.
Both Umano and Delia made two saves in the first overtime period but neither team would score, sending the game into a second overtime.
Argiros won the opening faceoff and Mercy called a timeout with 3:51 on the clock. After the timeout, Calabria would find Scorcia open in front of the net and the graduate student fired the ball past Delia to send the Mavericks to the National Championship Game for the first time ever.
Le Moyne held a 52-39 edge in shots and a 30-21 edge in ground balls. Mercy went 15-for-28 on faceoffs.
