WALTHAM, Mass. (Feb. 23, 2024) – Powered by a game-high six points on three goals and three assists from graduate student TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue), the No. 5/9 Mercy University men's lacrosse team earned a 13-11 win at No. 10 Bentley on Friday night.
The Mavericks (3-0) start 3-0 for the first time since 2022 and improve to 4-0 all-time against the Falcons (0-1).
Mercy was led by Heyder who had a game-high six points on three goals and three assists with three ground balls in his season debut. Senior Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School) added three goals and two assists and senior Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) recorded two goals and three assists. Senior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) contributed three goals and one assist and recorded his 100th career point. Senior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 20-of-28 on faceoffs with a game-high seven ground balls and a goal. Sophomore Devon Duchnowski (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) also scored and senior Owen Stephenson (Glen Rock, N.J./UDC/CCBC Essex) had a team-high two caused turnovers. Freshman Cameron Dorfman (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) made a game-high 15 saves to earn his third straight win to begin his career.
Bentley was led by Nathan Alviti who had a team-high five points on three goals and two assists. Jackson Tinsley made eight saves to take the loss.
The game remained scoreless for nearly five minutes until Heyder netted his first goal of the season to make it 1-0 at the 10:28 mark of the first quarter. Duchnowski and Calabria followed with two quick back-to-back goals to give the Mavericks a 3-0 lead with 9:04 left in the opening quarter. Consecutive goals from David Gagnon and Alviti made it 3-2 with 5:03 on the clock. Calabria scored the final goal of the quarter, off an assist from Heyder, to give Mercy a 4-2 lead after the first quarter.
Heyder and Caskenette opened the second quarter with two straight man-up goals to give Mercy a 6-2 lead at the 9:19 mark of the quarter. Alviti and Jayce Lambert answered with goals for the Falcons to cut the Mavericks lead to two, 6-4, with 4:17 left in the half. A late Gibbons goal gave Mercy a 7-4 lead at halftime.
Caskenette found the back of the net at the 8:02 mark of the third quarter to give Mercy an 8-4 lead. Lambert and Conor Segreti scored the next two goals of the game for Bentley to make it 8-6 with 3:25 remaining in the period. Calabria tallied the final goal of the quarter with 2:23 on the clock to put the Mavericks up, 9-6, after three quarters.
Alviti and Segreti scored two straight goals to open the fourth quarter, cutting Mercy's lead to one, 9-8, with 10:12 left. Kuehner won the ensuing faceoff, scooped up the ground ball and scored to give the Mavericks a two-goal lead, 10-8, with 10:06 on the clock. A Nick Harvath goal at the 8:48 mark once again cut Mercy's lead to one, 10-9. However, Gibbons responded with an unassisted goal with 5:32 left to make it 11-9. Gagnon scored again with 3:54 remaining to cut the Mavericks lead to one again, 11-10. Kuehner won the ensuing faceoff and senior Damiano Ferrara (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) came up with the ground ball to give possession to Mercy. Calabria found Caskenette in front of the cage to give the Mavericks a 12-10 advantage with 2:42 on the clock. Kuehner again won the faceoff and Gibbons assisted on a Heyder goal to put Mercy up three, 13-10, with 1:28 remaining. Bentley scored a goal with 46 seconds left to make it 13-11 and won the ensuing faceoff. However, Dorfman came up with a save to deny the Falcons from scoring again and Stephenson scooped up the ensuing ground ball to give Mercy the impressive 13-11 road win.
Bentley held a 45-36 edge in shots, ground balls were tied at 28-28 and Mercy went 20-of-28 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, February 27th when they host Georgian Court at 3 p.m.
