WALTHAM, Mass. (Mar. 29, 2023) – Powered by a game-high and season-high nine points from graduate student Jaclyn Grzelaczyk (Seaford, N.Y./New York Tech), the No. 13 Mercy College women's lacrosse team earned a 22-19 win at No. 12 Bentley University on Wednesday afternoon at Bentley Field.
The Mavericks (5-4) have won two games in a row and snap the Falcons (6-2) six-game winning streak. Mercy has now won three straight meetings against Bentley and the 22 goals scored is the most scored by the Mavericks since a 22-9 win over New York Tech on May 3, 2018. Bentley entered Wednesday's game having won three straight overtime games against ranked teams, including a win at then-No. 2 Florida Southern on March 18th.
Jaclyn Grzelaczyk had nine points on a game-high six goals and three assists and graduate student Emma Rippon (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Iona University) had a season-high seven points on five goals and two assists. She also added a game-high and season-high 11 draw controls. Sophomore Leena Moussa (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) had three goals and an assist and junior Kelly Rosenfeld (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) had two goals and one assist. Graduate student Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) had three goals and senior Erin Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Adelphi University) recorded two goals, three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Freshman Maeghan Callow (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) also scored and graduate student Micayla Brady (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) had two caused turnovers. Sophomore Lindsey Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) added seven draw controls and junior Olivia Maute (Rockaway, N.J./Morris Hills) made a career-high 12 saves in goal to earn the win.
Bentley was led by Maeve Johnson who had a team-high seven points on five goals and two assists. Ashlee Wargo made six saves to take the loss.
Rippon gave Mercy a 1-0 lead just 40 seconds into the game and Moussa made it 2-0 at the 13:44 mark of the first quarter. Caroline Affolter scored with 11:19 on the clock to get Bentley on the scoreboard. Moussa, Rippon and Erin Shimborske ratted off three straight goals to give the Mavericks a 5-1 lead with 8:23 left in the quarter, leading to a Bentley timeout. Out of the timeout, Rosenfeld and Rippon netted back-to-back goals to increase Mercy's lead to six, 7-1, with 4:19 on the clock. A Johnson goal later made it 7-2, but goals from Moussa and Erin Shimborske gave the Mavericks a 9-2 lead after the first quarter.
Bentley scored the first goal of the second quarter to make it 9-3, but Jaclyn Grzelaczyk answered with a goal to make it 10-3. Kenzie Lupton and Rippon traded goals to bring the score to 11-4 with 11:35 left in the half. A Courtney Dermody goal was followed by a Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk goal to make it 12-5 at the 10:18 mark of the quarter. Callow later gave the Mavericks a 13-5 lead before Affolter scored with 2:08 on the clock to make it 13-6, heading into halftime.
Sydney Lynch opened the scoring in the third quarter to cut Mercy's lead to six, 13-7. However, two goals from Jaclyn Grzelaczyk and another from Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk gave the Mavericks their largest lead of the game, 16-7, with 11:08 left in the quarter. Bentley scored after a timeout to make it 16-8 before Jaclyn Grzelaczyk found the back of the net again to once again give Mercy a nine-goal lead, 17-8, with 8:46 on the clock. Back-to-back goals from Bentley made it 17-10 before Rosenfeld scored just under 30 seconds later to give Mercy an 18-10 lead at the 6:07 mark. The Falcons scored the final four goals of the quarter to head into the fourth quarter down, 18-14.
Jaclyn Grzelaczyk scored on a free position shot less than a minute into the fourth quarter to give Mercy a 19-14 lead. Kaitlyn Grzelaczyk made it 20-14 with 10:20 on the clock after a Rippon assist. Bentley scored the next four goals to cut the Mavericks lead to just two, 20-18, with 3:08 remaining. Junior Christina Lopreato (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) won the ensuing draw control and Rippon scored her final goal of the day to make it 21-18 with 2:22 on the clock. Callow scooped up the next draw control and Jaclyn Grzelaczyk found the back of the net for the sixth time with 1:29 remaining to give the Mavericks a 22-18 lead. Bentley scored with 53 seconds left to make it 22-19, but time would run out for the Falcons and Mercy earned the 22-19 road win.
Bentley held a 33-31 edge in shots and Mercy held a 16-13 edge in ground balls and a 25-19 edge in draw controls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Sunday, April 2nd when they play at Molloy at 11 a.m.
