DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 4, 2023) – Powered by a career-high-tying six goals from senior TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue), a career-high six caused turnovers from senior Justin Gerdvil (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) and a game-high 16 saves from graduate student Tommy Umano (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford), the No. 5/6 Mercy College men's lacrosse team earned an 18-15 win over No. 12/15 Seton Hill University in their home opener on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (4-1) have won two games in a row and win their 11th straight home opener. Mercy defeats the Griffins (2-2) for the third straight time.
Heyder had a game-high six goals and senior Brady Kearnan (Courtice, Ontario/Newberry College) had four goals and an assist. Graduate student Jack Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) recorded two goals and graduate student Thomas Connors (Bellmore, N.Y./DeSales University) had a goal and an assist. Gerdvil had his first collegiate goal with an assist, five ground balls and a game-high six caused turnovers. Juniors Tyler Pjatak (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) and Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) also scored and junior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) scored a goal with five ground balls while going 14-of-21 on faceoffs. Senior PJ Argiros (Levittown, N.Y./Nassau CC) also scored and had a game-high seven ground balls. He went 9-of-15 on faceoffs. Junior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) had two assists and senior Robert Guglielmo (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) also had an assist. Umano made a season-high 16 saves to earn the win.
Seton Hill was led by Jeremy Sforzo who had a team-high four goals with an assist. Josh Miller made 13 saves to take the loss.
Sforzo gave the Griffins a 1-0 lead at the 12:29 mark of the first quarter. Kearnan tied the game at 1-1 with 9:08 on the clock after an unassisted goal. Pjatak later gave the Mavericks their first lead of the game at 2-1 with 7:55 remaining in the quarter. An Andy Davis goal quickly tied the game at 2-2, but Kearnan gave the lead back to Mercy with his second of the game less than a minute later to make it 3-2. Greg Gibbons gave Mercy a 4-2 lead at the 1:57 mark before a Vincent Cogliandro goal cut the Mavericks lead to 4-3 after one quarter.
Grady Arnold tied the game at 4-4 at the 12:57 mark of the second quarter. Four straight goals from Connors, Heyder, Gerdvil and Jack Gibbons gave Mercy an 8-4 lead with 5:20 left in the half. A Sforzo goal ended the run to make it 8-5, but Heyder followed with a man-up goal, to make it 9-5 with 3:41 left. Seton Hill scored the final two goals of the quarter to head into halftime down, 9-7.
Back-to-back goals from Kearnan and Heyder in the first two minutes of the third quarter gave Mercy an 11-7 lead. Three straight goals by Seton Hill cut Mercy's lead to just one, 11-10, with 6:39 left. Kearnan, Kuehner, Heyder and Jack Gibbons rattled off four straight goals in less than two minutes to give Mercy a 15-10 lead at the 4:29 mark. A Peyton Gensler goal cut the Mavericks lead to 15-11 after three quarters.
A pair of goals from Heyder and a goal from Argiros made it 18-11 with 12:59 left. Seton Hill scored four unanswered goals to make it 18-15 with two minutes left. However, the Mavericks would hold the Griffins without a shot for the remainder of the game to earn the win.
Seton Hill held a 59-39 edge in shots and Mercy held a 37-31 edge in ground balls. Mercy went 23-of-36 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, March 11th when they host Wilmington at 1 p.m.
