DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 11, 2023) – Powered by a game-high eight points from senior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College), the No. 3/4 Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned a 19-9 win over Wilmington University on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (5-1) have won three games in a row and improve to 3-0 all-time against the Wildcats (0-4).
Kearnan had a game-high eight points on four goals and four assists. He now has 204 career points as a Maverick, becoming just the fourth Maverick in program history to surpass the 200-point plateau. Senior TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) added a game-high five goals and graduate student Thomas Connors (Bellmore, N.Y./DeSales University) added a season-high six points on four goals and two assists. Graduate student Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had three goals and two assists and junior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) had a goal and an assist. Sophomore Ryan Smith (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) and freshman Devon Duchnowski (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) also scored and juniors Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) and Cristian Castles (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) and freshman Ryken Kutner (Riverhead, N.Y./Riverhead) each dished out an assist. Senior Justin Gerdvil (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) had a game-high four caused turnovers with six ground balls and junior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 12-of-18 on faceoffs with two ground balls. Graduate student Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made 11 saves in 42:10 minutes of action to earn the win. Graduate student Joe Tortorella (Franklin Square, N.Y./H. Frank Carey) and freshman Peter Murphy (Port Jefferson, N.Y./Port Jefferson) combined for five saves in the final 17:50 minutes of action.
Wilmington was led by TJ Caton who had a team-high four points on three goals and one assist. Jack Cruz made a game-high 20 saves in 52:17 minutes of action to take the loss.
The Wildcats scored the game's first goal at the 12:12 mark of the first quarter to take an early 1-0 lead. Three straight goals from Calabria, Connors and Heyder gave the Mavericks a 3-1 lead with under 10 minutes to play in the first quarter, leading to a Wilmington timeout. After the timeout, Heyder netted two more goals to make it 5-1 before a Caton goal made it 5-2 with 1:42 left in the quarter. Mercy would head into the second quarter with a 5-2 lead.
Gibbons, Connors, Kearnan and Heyder recorded four straight goals to open the second quarter, giving Mercy a 9-2 lead with 9:30 left in the half. A Logan Stinson goal made it 9-3, but Connors scored the final goal of the quarter with less than a minute on the clock to give Mercy a 10-3 lead at halftime.
Kearnan and Heyder produced the first two goals of the third quarter to put the Mavericks up 12-3 with under 13 minutes left in the quarter. Back-to-back goals from Wilmington made it 12-5 before two goals from Kearnan and another from Gibbons gave Mercy a 15-5 lead after three quarters.
Stinson scored the first goal of the fourth quarter to make it 15-6. Gibbons and Connors tallied back-to-back goals to make it 17-6 with 10:16 remaining. A Layton Avant goal made it 17-7 before goals from Smith and Duchnowski increased the Mavericks lead to a game-high 12 goals, 19-7, with 2:29 left. Wilmington scored the final two goals of the game, but the deficit proved too much to overcome and the Mavericks earned the 19-9 win.
Mercy held a 55-36 edge in shots, a 41-25 edge in ground balls and went 18-of-31 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Sunday, March 19th when they host Roberts Wesleyan at 11 a.m.
