DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 27, 2024) – Powered by a game-high-tying four goals from sophomore Devon Duchnowski (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place), freshman Christopher Bergersen (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) and senior Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School), the No. 4/9 Mercy University men's lacrosse team earned a 19-9 win over Georgian Court University on Tuesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (4-0) start 4-0 for the first time since 2021 and improve to 9-0 all-time against the Lions (2-2).
Mercy was led by Duchnowski, Bergersen and Caskenette who all had a game-high-tying four goals. Senior Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) had a game-high six points on a goal and a game-high five assists and senior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) dished out four assists. Graduate student TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) had two goals and an assist and senior Damiano Ferrara (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) scored two goals and had a game-high-tying eight ground balls with two caused turnovers. Ferrara recorded his 100th career ground ball. Senior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) scored a goal, went 17-of-32 on faceoffs and had a game-high-tying eight ground balls. Sophomore AJ Barone (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) also scored and senior Tyler Pjatak (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) had an assist with four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Junior Ryan Smith (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) had an assist and graduate student Justin Gerdvil (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) had three ground balls and a game-high four caused turnovers. Freshman Cameron Dorfman (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) made 13 saves to earn the win in goal.
Georgian Court was led by Tallen Smith who had a game-high-tying four goals. Vincent Burkhart made a game-high 15 saves to take the loss.
The Lions scored the game's first goal less than a minute in to take a 1-0 lead. The Mavericks responded with four straight goals to take a 4-1 lead with 8:56 left in the first quarter. Ferrara scored Mercy's first goal at the 12:00 mark and Bergersen, Caskenette and Kuehner rattled off goals to give the Mavericks an early lead. A Smith goal ended the run and made it 4-2 with 8:19 on the clock. Two goals from Bergersen and the first of the day from Duchnowski gave Mercy a 7-2 lead after the first quarter.
The score remained 7-2 until the 6:55 mark of the second quarter when Duchnowski scored again, off an assist from Gibbons, to make it 8-2. Caskenette made it 9-2 a minute later, following an assist from Smith. Smith scored for Georgian Court to make it 9-3 with 2:41 left in the half. However, a late Duchnowski goal from Gibbons gave the Mavericks a 10-3 lead at halftime.
Heyder scored less than a minute into the third quarter, giving Mercy an 11-3 lead. The Lions scored back-to-back goals to make it 11-5 with 11:45 left in the quarter. The Mavericks came back with five straight goals in a span of just over two minutes to take a 16-5 lead at the 6:08 mark. Duchnowski got the run started and Ferrara, Gibbons, Caskenette and Barone also scored to give Mercy a commanding 11-goal lead. Georgian Court did not go away and tallied the next three goals to make it 16-8 with 1:09 on the clock. Mercy put an end to any hope of a Lion comeback as Caskenette and Bergersen closed the quarter with goals to put the Mavericks up ,18-8, after three quarters.
Brett Bridges scored the lone Georgian Court goal in the fourth quarter to make it 18-9 with 10:57 left. Heyder scored the Mavericks last goal at the 4:24 mark, off an assist from Calabria, to give Mercy a 19-9 lead. The Mavericks cruised the rest of the way and earned the impressive 19-9 win.
Mercy held a 48-42 edge in shots, a 41-32 edge in ground balls and went 17-of-32 on faceoffs.
Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, March 2nd when they play at Adelphi at 1 p.m.
