DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (May 7, 2022) – Powered by a career-high eight points from senior Juliana Keenan (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge), the No. 1 seeded Mercy College women's lacrosse team earned a 19-12 win over No. 2 seeded Roberts Wesleyan College in the East Coast Conference (ECC) Women's Lacrosse Championship Final on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
In a ceremony prior to the game, sophomore Savanna Spadalik (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) was presented the ECC Elite 19 Award for women's lacrosse. The award is given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA on teams competing in the ECC Championship.
Graduate student Briana Corace (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) was named the Championship's Most Outstanding Player in a ceremony after the game.
The Mavericks (14-4) have won eight games in a row and win their second ECC Championship in three seasons. Mercy will now await a possible NCAA Tournament berth with the selection show set for tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. at NCAA.com. The Redhawks (9-6) drop both meetings to the Mavericks this season.
Keenan had a game-high eight points on five goals and three assists to go along with a game-high-tying four caused turnovers. Corace had five goals and sophomore Kelly Rosenfeld (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) had two goals and four assists. Senior Taylor Bishop (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) had three goals and senior Kerri Cummings (Islip, N.Y./Islip) had two goals and two assists. Senior Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) had a goal, seven draw controls and two assists and sophomore Christina Lopreato (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had a goal and an assist. Junior Erin Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Adelphi University) had three caused turnovers and freshman Lindsey Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had four ground balls, two caused turnovers and six draw controls. Senior Madeline Garvalosa (Seaford, N.Y./St. Anthony's) made 10 saves to earn the win.
Roberts Wesleyan was led by Madison Bell who had a game-high nine points on six goals and three assists. Natalie Arieno made 10 saves to take the loss.
The game remained scoreless until the 9:58 mark of the opening quarter when Corace found the back of the net, off a pass from Rosenfeld, to make it 1-0. Keenan later made it 2-0 with a free position goal with 8:35 on the clock. Bell got the Redhawks on the scoreboard at the 7:02 mark to make it 2-1. Corace scored the final goal of the quarter, off an assist from Rosenfeld, to give Mercy a 3-1 lead after one quarter of play.
Lindsey Brinkel and Alexis Grant opened the scoring in the second quarter to tie the game at 3-3. Cummings gave the Mavericks the lead back just 22 seconds later, following a pass from Grzelaczyk, to make it 4-3 with 9:36 left in the half. Bell tied the game at 4-4 shortly after with a free position goal. The Mavericks rallied with five straight goals to take a 9-4 lead with three minutes remaining in the quarter. Rosenfeld and Corace scored twice and Keenan also scored to give Mercy a five-goal lead. The Redhawks scored the final two goals of the half to head into halftime down, 9-6.
Bell scored the first goal of the third quarter to make it 9-7. Corace, Keenan and Lopreato put an end to any Roberts Wesleyan momentum with three straight goals to make it 12-7 with 6:58 left in the quarter. Brinkel and Bishop traded goals to make it 13-8 before Bell found the back of the net again to make it 13-9. Bishop and Bell exchanged free position goals to close out the quarter, giving Mercy a 14-10 lead after three quarters.
Grzelaczyk made it 15-10 at the 12:46 mark of the fourth quarter. Grant later made it 15-11 before Bishop and Keenan tallied back-to-back goals to give Mercy a 17-11 lead. Brinkel scored the final Redhawks goal at the 9:01 mark to make it 17-12. Cummings and Keenan finished off the scoring to give the Mavericks the 19-12 win and their second ECC Championship.
Mercy held a 33-24 edge in shots, a 25-17 edge in ground balls and an 18-16 edge in draw controls.
