DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 26, 2024) – The No. 4/9 Mercy University men's lacrosse team hosts Georgian Court University on Tuesday, February 27th at 3 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Tuesday, February 27th 3 p.m.
Records: #4/9 Mercy (3-0), Georgian Court (2-1)
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. Georgian Court
Mercy earned an 18-8 win over Georgian Court on February 22, 2023.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 13-11 win at No. 10 Bentley on Friday. The Mavericks were led by graduate student TJ Heyder who had a game-high six points on three goals and three assists and by senior Jason Kuehner who went 20-of-28 on faceoffs with a game-high seven ground balls. Freshman Cameron Dorfman made a game-high 15 saves to earn the win. Mercy enters the 2024 season ranked No. 8 nationally in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll and No. 10 nationally in the USILA poll. The Mavericks were picked first in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 14-4 last season, winning their fourth straight ECC Championship and qualifying for their fourth straight NCAA Tournament. Mercy looks to make the ECC Tournament for the ninth straight season. Second-year Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks return four USILA All-Americans from last year's team.
Leading the returners for the Mavericks is ECC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year graduate student Justin Gerdvil who was named USILA First Team All-American and ECC Defensive Player of the Year last season after recording a team-high 76 ground balls and 41 caused turnovers. Senior Jason Kuehner returns after being tabbed USILA Second Team All-American following a season in which he had a .656 faceoff win percentage and 69 ground balls. Senior Tyler Pjatak was named USILA Third Team All-American a year ago and returns after posting 54 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers. Graduate student TJ Heyder was an All-American Honorable Mention recipient from the USILA last season and returns after recording a team-high 59 goals with 69 points and 30 ground balls.
Kuehner was named USILA Preseason First Team All-American and Gerdvil and Pjatak were tabbed Second Team All-Americans. Gerdvil and Kuehner were named Inside Lacrosse Preseason First Team All-Americans and Pjatak was tabbed to the Second Team. Kuehner was also named USA Lacrosse Magazine Preseason First Team All-American, Gerdvil and Pjatak earned Second Team honors and Heyder received Third Team recognition.
Also returning for the Mavericks is senior Andrew Calabria who was named Second Team All-ECC last season after recording 22 goals, 26 assists and 48 points last season. Calabria ranked third on the team in assists last season. Senior Damiano Ferrara returns after being named Second Team All-ECC last season after recording 39 ground balls with four goals and two assists.
Senior Greg Gibbons recorded 10 goals, 13 assists and 23 points last season and sophomore Devon Duchnowski returns after recording 19 goals and two assists in a strong rookie campaign in 2023. Senior Brody Caskenette had 13 goals and five assists last season and junior Ryan Smith returns after posting six goals and nine assists in 2023.
Senior Justin DeMonte, junior Ian Votta, and sophomores Ryken Kutner, Connor Abrahall, AJ Barone, and Jack Agres return after combining for 28 goals and 14 assists last season. Junior Ryan Resnick returns after going 14-of-24 on faceoffs last season with 11 ground balls and one assist. Joining the faceoff team for the Mavericks is sophomore transfer Kenneth Summit who joins the Mavericks from Limestone University. Summit had a .555 faceoff win percentage with 28 ground balls last season for the Saints.
Graduate student James Distefano returns on defense after recording four caused turnovers and eight ground balls in eight starts last season. Sophomores Sean Higgins, Danny Fitzgerald, Joe Sorok, Matthew Kramer and Michael Corbo and seniors Michael Morra and Gabe DeRoché also return for the Mavericks and look to see increased playing time in 2024.
Returning in goal for the Mavericks is sophomore Peter Murphy who appeared in four games last season and made eight saves with a .727 save percentage and 6.75 goals-against average. Senior Tyler Vassell also returns in goal after appearing in three contests last season. Leading the newcomers in goal is freshman Cameron Dorfman who was named MVP of the Suffolk County Championship.
MacSpadyen will also look to freshmen Justin Ortiz, Jake Norton, Colin Orsino, Jason Kassis, Dillon Osorio and Christopher Bergersen and transfers Owen Stephenson, Eddie Montemurro and Shane Roche to help the Mavericks get back to the NCAA Tournament. Orsino was an All-Suffolk County Honorable Mention selection and had 52 points during his senior season and Bergersen and Norton were State Championship Finalists at Farmingdale High School and Bergersen was tabbed All-County. Stephenson played at CCBC Essex last season and had a team-high 22 caused turnovers with 48 ground balls. Roche played for Onondaga Community College in 2022 and had eight goals and two assists in 11 games. Montemurro returns to the Mavericks after beginning his career with Mercy before heading to Binghamton University. The graduate student appeared in four games for the Mavericks in 2020 with two ground balls.
The Mavericks have been led by senior Greg Gibbons who was named ECC Offensive Player of the Week and tabbed to the USILA D2 Team of the Week last week. Gibbons has a team-high 15 points on nine goals and six assists with four ground balls. Senior Andrew Calabria was tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll last week and has 14 points on nine goals and five assists. The senior recorded his 100th career point in the win over Bentley on February 23rd. Senior Brody Caskenette has 14 points on eight goals and a team-high-tying six assists and freshman Christopher Bergersen has six goals and two assists. Graduate student TJ Heyder was named to the ECC Honor Roll on Monday and recorded three goals and three assists in his season debut against Bentley. Sophomore Devon Duchnowski has recorded three goals and three assists and junior Shane Roche has netted four goals.
Senior Damiano Ferrara has three goals, and one assist and senior Tyler Pjatak has two goals, two assists, 11 ground balls and three caused turnovers. Graduate student Justin Gerdvil has five caused turnovers with 12 ground balls and senior Owen Stephenson has a team-high six caused turnovers with 12 ground balls.
Senior Jason Kuehner was tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll for a second time on Monday and is 62-of-88 (.705) on faceoffs with a team-high 29 ground balls and freshman Cameron Dorfman was named ECC Defensive and Rookie of the Week for the second straight week on Monday. Dorfman is 3-0 in goal with 47 saves, a .610 save percentage and 10.00 goals-against average.
The Mavericks are ranked No. 4 nationally in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll and No. 9 in the USILA poll. Mercy looks to start 4-0 for the first time since 2021 and looks to improve to 9-0 all-time against Georgian Court.
Scouting the Lions
Georgian Court is coming off a 16-11 win over St. Thomas Aquinas on Saturday. The Lions were picked first in the CACC Preseason Poll after going 12-6 last season, falling in the CACC Championship. Georgian Court is led by Brett Bridges who has a team-high 16 points on a team-high 12 goals and four assists. Tallen Smith has 12 points on nine goals and three assists and Matt Dorrian has six goals. Hunter Rindos and Michael Schone both have a team-high three caused turnovers and Justin Iannarone is 22-of-33 on faceoffs with a team-high 17 ground balls. Garrett Kenny is 35-of-51 on faceoffs with 14 ground balls and Vincent Burkhart is 2-1 in goal with 30 saves, a .476 save percentage and 12.65 goals-against average.
Next Game
Mercy plays at Adelphi on Saturday, March 2nd at 1 p.m.
