DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Apr. 11, 2024) – The No. 5 Mercy University men's lacrosse team plays at ECC foe No. 16 Frostburg State University on Saturday, April 13th at 1 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Saturday, April 13th 1 p.m.
Records: #5 Mercy (9-1, 4-0 ECC), #16 Frostburg State (9-2, 3-0 ECC)
Location: Frostburg, Md.
Last Meeting vs. Frostburg State
Mercy earned a 15-9 win over Frostburg State on May 6, 2023.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 12-7 win over Molloy on Saturday. The Mavericks were led by senior Greg Gibbons who had a team-high five points on three goals and two assists. Mercy entered 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 on February 20th and was named to the Honor Roll on March 11th and April 8th. Gibbons leads the team with 43 points on 17 goals and a team-high 26 assists with 21 ground balls. Senior Andrew Calabria has been tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll twice and is second on the team with 39 points on 17 goals and 22 assists. The senior recorded his 100th career point in the win over Bentley on February 23rd. Senior Brody Caskenette has 38 points on 25 goals with 13 assists and freshman Christopher Bergersen has 16 goals and three assists. Graduate student TJ Heyder has been named to the ECC Honor Roll three times and has a team-high-tying 25 goals with 10 assists. Sophomore Devon Duchnowski has recorded 19 goals and four assists and junior Ryan Smith has five goals and five assists.
Senior Damiano Ferrara has six goals, two assists and recorded his 100th career ground ball against Georgian Court on February 27th. Senior Tyler Pjatak has three goals, three assists,32 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers. Graduate student Justin Gerdvil has been named ECC Defensive Player of the Week twice and tabbed to the USILA D2 Team of the Week on March 5th and has a team-high 21 caused turnovers with 35 ground balls and senior Owen Stephenson has 14 caused turnovers with 26 ground balls. Gerdvil recorded his 200th career ground ball against Roberts Wesleyan on March 16th.
Senior Jason Kuehner was tabbed ECC Offensive Player of the Week last week, was tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll for a fourth time this week and was named to the USILA D2 Team of the Week on February 27th. He is 166-249 (.667) on faceoffs with a team-high 97 ground balls and freshman Cameron Dorfman has been named ECC Defensive Player of the Week twice and Rookie of the Week four times. Dorfman is 8-1 in goal with 98 saves, a .560 save percentage and 8.84 goals-against average. Sophomore Peter Murphy was named ECC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday and is 1-0 in goal with 12 saves, a .632 save percentage and 7.00 goals-against average.
The Mavericks are ranked No. 5 nationally in the USILA poll and No. 5 in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll. Mercy is 4-0 all-time against Frostburg State. The Mavericks have won 33 straight games against ECC competition, with their last loss coming in the 2018 ECC Championship Semifinal.
Scouting the Bobcats
Frostburg State is coming off a 20-13 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday for their sixth straight win. The Bobcats were picked second in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 13-5 last season. Frostburg State is ranked No. 16 nationally in the USILA Top 20 poll and No. 14 in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll. The Bobcats are led by ECC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Bubba Love who has a team-high 57 points on 31 goals and a team-high 26 assists. Austin Sipes has 47 points on 25 goals and 22 assists and Chase Buckwalter has a team-high 33 goals with 13 assists. Owen McCallum has 39 points on 26 goals and 13 assists. Alex Walstrum is 81-112 (.723) on faceoffs with a team-high 46 ground balls and Gregg Dort Jr. is 81-129 (.628) on faceoffs with 43 ground balls. Seamus Kearney has a team-high 24 caused turnovers and Nate Jones is 9-2 in goal with 91 saves, a .497 save percentage and 9.19 goals-against average.
Next Game
Mercy hosts Mercyhurst on Sunday, April 21st at 12 p.m.
