LAKEWOOD, N.J. (Feb. 22, 2023) – Powered by eight different Mavericks scoring, the No. 6 Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned an 18-8 win over Georgian Court University on Wednesday afternoon.
The Mavericks (3-1) get back into the win column and improve to 8-0 all-time against the Lions (0-2).
Mercy was led by senior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College) who had a game-high seven points on four goals and three assists. He recorded his 100th career goal as a Maverick, becoming the seventh Maverick to reach the mark. Graduate student Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) added four goals and two assists and graduate student Thomas Connors (Bellmore, N.Y./DeSales University) had two goals and two assists. Seniors TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) and Robert Guglielmo (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) and junior Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) each had two goals and juniors Justin DeMonte (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point) and Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School) each added a goal. Junior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) and sophomore Ryan Smith (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) had an assist and junior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 19-of-24 on faceoffs with a game-high six ground balls. Senior Justin Gerdvil (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) had a game-high-tying two caused turnovers and graduate student Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made six saves in 48:38 minutes of action to earn the win. Graduate student Joe Tortorella (Franklin Square, N.Y./H. Frank Carey) made one save in 11:22 minutes of action.
Georgian Court was led by Daniel Burnham who had a team-high three points on two goals and an assist. Vincent Burkhart made a game-high 25 saves to take the loss.
The game remained scoreless until the 11:54 mark of the first quarter when Michael Ventresca scored to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-1 until Guglielmo scored his first goal of the game with 2:51 on the clock after a Connors assist. Kearnan, Jack Gibbons and Greg Gibbons scored the final three goals of the quarter to give Mercy a 4-1 lead after the first quarter.
Guglielmo found the back of the net again at the 11:18 mark of the second quarter to make it 5-1 and Kearnan and Connors followed with goals to give the Mavericks a 7-1 lead with 9:13 left in the half. Burnham ended the Mavericks run with his first goal of the day to make it 7-2. Jack Gibbons scored the final goal of the half to give Mercy an 8-2 lead at halftime.
Kearnan made it 9-2 just 13 seconds into the second half off a Calabria assist. Tallen Smith scored for the Lions to make it 9-3. Connors, Jack Gibbons and Greg Gibbons netted three straight goals to increase the Mavericks lead to 12-3 with 8:59 remaining in the quarter. Burnham scored the final goal of the quarter to cut Mercy's lead to 12-4 after three quarters.
Heyder opened the scoring in the fourth quarter to make it 13-4 with 14:12 remaining. Brett Bridges made it 13-5 before back-to-back man-up goals from Jack Gibbons and Kearnan made it 15-5 with 9:49 to play. Vincent Burns made it 15-6 before goals from Heyder, Caskenette and DeMonte built the Mavericks lead to a game-high 12 goals, 18-6, with 3:22 on the clock. Two late goals by the Lions would not be enough and Mercy came away with the win.
Mercy held a 62-26 edge in shots and a 53-21 edge in ground balls. Mercy went 21-of-30 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, March 4th when they host Seton Hill at 11 a.m.
