DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 17, 2024) – Powered by a career-high-tying seven points from senior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) and a game-high 16 saves from freshman Cameron Dorfman (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip), the No. 8/10 Mercy University men's lacrosse team earned a 19-10 win over Assumption University on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (2-0) start 2-0 for the sixth straight season, while the Greyhounds (0-1) open their season with a loss.
Mercy was led by Calabria who had a game-high four goals and three assists. Senior Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) recorded three goals and two assists and freshman Christopher Bergersen (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had a career-high four goals with one assist. Sophomore Devon Duchnowski (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) added two goals and two assists and senior Damiano Ferrara (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) had two goals and an assist. Junior Shane Roche (Milford, Pa./Onondaga CC) netted two goals and senior Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School) added one goal and two assists. Sophomore AJ Barone (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) scored a goal and senior Tyler Pjatak (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) had an assist with three ground balls. Senior Owen Stephenson (Glen Rock, N.J./UDC/CCBC Essex) had an assist, five ground balls and a game-high-tying three caused turnovers and junior Ryan Smith (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) also had an assist. Senior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 23-of-31 on faceoffs with a game-high 11 ground balls and graduate student Justin Gerdvil (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) contributed four ground balls and a game-high-tying three caused turnovers. Dorfman made a game-high 16 saves to earn his second straight win.
Assumption was led by Ryan Healey who had a team-high four points on two goals and two assists. Colin Malone made 14 saves to take the loss.
Mercy scored three goals in the first five minutes of action to take a 3-0 lead with 11:35 left in the first quarter. Bergersen got the scoring started at the 13:14 mark and Roche and Caskenette also scored to give the Mavericks the early lead. After an Assumption timeout, the Greyhounds scored two straight goals to make it 3-2 with 5:18 left in the opening quarter. A late Calabria goal from Duchnowski gave Mercy a 4-2 lead after the first quarter.
Calabria and Bergersen netted back-to-back goals to open the second quarter, giving Mercy a 6-2 lead with 12:48 left in the half. A Sam Maciel goal made it 6-3 before a Gibbons goal at the 9:24 mark gave Mercy a 7-3 lead. Colby Leighton got the visitors back to within three, 7-4, with 7:53 on the clock. However, consecutive goals from Calabria and Ferrara gave the Mavericks a 9-4 lead at halftime.
Duchnowski opened the third quarter with a goal from Gibbons to make it 10-4. Brady McNulty answered with an Assumption goal to make it 10-5 before Ferrara netted his second goal of the game to give Mercy an 11-5 lead at the 12:59 mark. Calabria, Gibbons and Bergersen scored three straight goals to put the Mavericks up, 14-5, with 7:36 on the clock. Back-to-back Greyhound goals made it 14-7, but Bergersen quickly followed with a goal from Ferrara to give Mercy a 15-7 lead. Ryan Bogar scored the final goal of the quarter to cut the Mavericks lead to 15-8 after three quarters.
Healey scored the first goal of the fourth quarter to cut Mercy's lead to six, 15-9. Barone, Roche and Gibbons tallied the next three goals to increase the Mavericks lead back to nine, 18-9, with 7:29 left. Bogar scored Assumption's final goal with 5:08 left to make it 18-10. Duchnowski recorded the game's final goal at the 2:26 mark and the Mavericks cruised the rest of the way to the 19-10 win.
Shots were tied at 47-47, Mercy held a 40-27 edge in ground balls and went 23-of-31 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Friday, February 23rd when they play at Bentley at 5 p.m.
