DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 22, 2023) – Powered by a game-high seven points from junior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) and a game-high 17 saves from graduate student Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford), the No. 2/4 Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned a 14-12 win over RV Bentley University on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (7-1) have won five games in a row and improve to 3-0 all-time against the Falcons (2-2).
Calabria had a career-high seven points on three goals and four assists and senior TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) had four goals and one assist. Graduate student Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had three goals and an assist and graduate student Thomas Connors (Bellmore, N.Y./DeSales University) had two goals. Junior Tyler Pjatak (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) scored a goal, had five ground balls and two caused turnovers and senior Robert Guglielmo (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) also scored. Junior Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School) dished out two assists and junior Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) also had an assist. Junior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 10-of-16 on faceoffs with two ground balls and senior PJ Argiros (Levittown, N.Y./Nassau CC) went 10-of-14 on faceoffs with a game-high seven ground balls. Argiros recorded his 100th ground ball as a Maverick and now has 106 ground balls as a Maverick. Graduate student Jack Kipnes (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) added a game-high three caused turnovers with three ground balls and Umano made a season-high 17 saves to earn the win.
Bentley was led by Luke Jaber and Eric Makhatadze who both had a team-high three goals. Jackson Tinsley made 13 saves to take the loss.
The Falcons opened the game with three straight goals to take a 3-0 lead with 2:40 left in the first quarter. Heyder got Mercy on the scoreboard at the 1:30 mark to make it 3-1 and Calabria and Heyder scored two more goals in the final minute of play to tie the game at 3-3 after the first quarter.
Heyder scored his third goal of the game at the 14:51 mark of the second quarter to give Mercy it's first lead of the game, 4-3. David Gagnon scored for Bentley just over a minute later to tie the game again at 4-4. Back-to-back goals from Jack Gibbons gave the Mavericks a 6-4 lead with nine minutes left in the half. A Luke Jaber goal made it 6-5 with 4:45 on the clock before a Calabria goal right before halftime gave the Mavericks a 7-5 lead at halftime.
Guglielmo netted the first goal of the third quarter, off an assist from Calabria, to give the Mavericks an 8-5 lead with 10:50 left in the frame. A Makhatadze goal made it 8-6 before four straight goals from Gibbons, Pjatak, Connors and Calabria gave the Mavericks a 12-6 lead with five minutes left in the quarter. Bentley recorded the final two goals of the quarter to head into the fourth quarter down, 12-8.
Heyder's fourth goal of the day with 13:21 remaining gave the Mavericks a 13-8 lead. Another Makhatadze goal cut the Mercy lead to four, 13-9, with 12:06 on the clock. Connors tallied the final Mercy goal at the 10:01 mark following an assist from Calabria to give the Mavericks a 14-9 lead. Bentley scored the final three goals of the game to make it 14-12, but the deficit proved too much to overcome and Mercy came away with the 14-12 win.
Bentley held a 48-39 edge in shots. Mercy held a 36-28 edge in ground balls and Mercy went 20-of-30 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Sunday, March 26th when they play at D'Youville at 12 p.m.
