DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (May 4, 2022) – Powered by a combined 17 points from graduate student Dominic Scorcia (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey) and senior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College), the No. 1 seeded Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned a 17-11 win over No. 4 seeded Roberts Wesleyan College in an East Coast Conference (ECC) Men's Lacrosse Championship Semifinal matchup on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (13-1) have won 10 games in a row and advance to the Final for the third straight season. Mercy will face No. 2 seed Frostburg State in the Final on Saturday, May 7th at 3 p.m. at Mercy Field. The Redhawks (10-5) end their season with a loss to Mercy for the second straight year.
Scorcia had a game-high nine points on five goals and four assists and Kearnan had four goals and four assists. Senior Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had four goals and an assist and graduate student Matt Eccles (Syracuse, N.Y./University at Albany) and junior TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) each had two goals. Graduate student Robert LoRicco (Guilford, Conn./University at Albany) and sophomore Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School) each had an assist. Sophomore Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 23-for-30 on faceoffs with a career-high 12 ground balls and senior Jake Fitzgerald (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had a team-high three caused turnovers. Senior Jack Kipnes (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) had seven ground balls and two caused turnovers and junior Justin Gerdvil (Northport, N.Y./Northport) had five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Senior Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made eight saves to earn the win.
Roberts Wesleyan was led by Hunter Lemieux who had a team-high six points on four goals and two assists. Aidan Sheehan made nine saves to take the loss.
The Redhawks took a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the game after a Michael Pierog goal. Eccles followed with back-to-back goals to give Mercy a 2-1 lead with 12:41 on the clock. Scorcia continued the Mavericks run with two goals and Gibbons added his first goal to give Mercy a 5-1 lead with 5:51 remaining in the quarter. Reid Jackowski scored the final goal of the quarter to cut Mercy's lead to 5-2 after one quarter.
Jackowski made it 5-3 with his second of the game at the 13:39 mark of the second quarter. Kearnan later made it 6-3 with his first of the day just under two minutes later. Roberts Wesleyan scored three straight goals to tie the game at 6-6 with 5:17 left in the half. The Mavericks quickly answered with three straight goals to take the lead back at 9-6 with 3:11 on the clock. Scorcia started the rally and Gibbons and Kearnan finished it off. Mercy would head into halftime with a 9-6 lead.
Gibbons gave Mercy a 10-6 lead with 11:59 left in the third quarter, off an assist from Scorcia. Lemieux later made it 10-7 before Kearnan scored again, off an assist from LoRicco, to give Mercy an 11-7 lead with 9:40 on the clock. Matt Walsh got the Redhawks back to within three, 11-8, but Kearnan responded with a man-down goal to put the Mavericks back up four, 12-8, with seven minutes on the clock. Lemieux scored the final goal of the quarter to trim Mercy's lead to 12-9 after three quarters.
Heyder and Dan Doviak traded goals to open the fourth quarter, making it 13-10 with 13 minutes left. Jordon Deats got the visitors within two, 13-11, after a man-up goal with 11:30 remaining. The Mercy defense would not allow another Roberts Wesleyan goal and Scorcia, Heyder and Gibbons recorded goals to give Mercy the 17-11 win.
Mercy held a 46-30 edge in shots, a 44-23 edge in ground balls and went 23-for-30 on faceoffs.
