DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 14, 2024) – Powered by a game-high-tying four goals from seniors Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) and Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary) and a game-high 16 saves from freshman Cameron Dorfman (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) in his collegiate debut, the Mercy University men's lacrosse team earned a 20-9 victory over The College of Saint Rose in their 2024 season opener on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (1-0) win their sixth straight season opener and 12th straight home opener. Mercy improves to 11-0 all-time against the Golden Knights (0-1).
Mercy was led by Caskenette who had a game-high six points on four goals and two assists. Gibbons added a career-high four goals with one assist and senior Tyler Pjatak (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) contributed two goals, one assist, five ground balls and a game-high-tying three caused turnovers. Senior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) had two goals and an assist and freshman Christopher Bergersen (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had two goals and an assist in his collegiate debut. Junior Shane Roche (Milford, Pa./Onondaga CC) scored his first two goals as a Maverick and junior Ryan Smith (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) and sophomore AJ Barone (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) each had a goal and an assist. Seniors Damiano Ferrara (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) and Justin DeMonte (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point) also scored and senior Michael Morra (Farmingdale, N.Y./Plainedge), sophomore Devon Duchnowski (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) and junior Ian Votta (Levittown, N.Y./NJIT) dished out assists. Graduate student Justin Gerdvil (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) had an assist with six ground balls and two caused turnovers and freshman Jake Norton (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had an assist with three ground balls and two caused turnovers in his collegiate debut. Senior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 19-of-29 on faceoffs with a game-high 11 ground balls and senior Owen Stephenson (Glen Rock, N.J./UDC/CCBC Essex) had five ground balls and a caused turnover in his Mercy debut. Dorfman made a game-high 16 saves in his collegiate debut to earn his first collegiate win.
Saint Rose was led by Jack Rice and Noah Gibson who both had a team-high two goals. Ryan Gainor made 12 saves to take the loss.
Dorfman made his first career save in the first minute of action to keep the game scoreless. However, Saint Rose took a 1-0 lead at the 12:58 mark of the first quarter following a Jackson Spikereit goal. Calabria evened the score at 1-1 just over a minute later, following an assist from Duchnowski. The score remained 1-1 until the 5:19 mark when Pjatak found Gibbons to give the Mavericks a 2-1 advantage. Pjatak made it 3-1 with his first goal of the season with 1:55 on the clock before an Eddie Baker goal with 55 seconds remaining in the quarter cut Mercy's lead to 3-2 at the end of the first quarter.
A Rice goal to open the second quarter tied the game at 3-3. Back-to-back goals from Calabria and Bergersen gave the Mavericks a 5-3 lead with 7:38 left in the half. A Cam Smith goal made it 5-4 at the 5:04 mark. However, Mercy ended the half with goals from Caskenette, Gibbons and Ferrara to take an 8-4 lead at halftime.
Gibbons scored in the first minute of the third quarter to give the Mavericks a 9-4 lead. Mercy scored all eight goals in the third quarter to take a commanding 16-4 lead after three quarters. Caskenette scored three goals in the quarter, Gibbons added a second in the frame and Bergersen, Roche and Barone also netted goals in the period.
Smith and Roche netted back-to-back goals to open the fourth quarter giving Mercy an 18-4 lead with 12:29 remaining. Back-to-back Saint Rose goals made it 18-6 before Pjatak found the back of the net for a second time, off an assist from Morra, to make it 19-6 at the 7:58 mark. The Golden Knights scored three goals in a row to make it 19-9 with 3:20 left. DeMonte capped off the scoring for the Mavericks with a goal with just over a minute left, off an assist from Norton, to give Mercy the 20-9 win.
Mercy held a 49-28 edge in shots and a 45-25 edge in ground balls. Mercy went 21-of-32 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, February 17th when they host Assumption at 1 p.m.
