DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Apr. 29, 2024) – The No. 1 seeded Mercy University men's lacrosse team hosts No. 4 seeded Molloy University in an ECC Men's Lacrosse Championship Semifinal matchup on Wednesday, May 1st at 3 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Wednesday, May 1st 3 p.m.
Records: #1 Mercy (12-1, 6-0 ECC), #4 Molloy (8-9, 3-3 ECC)
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Ticket Information
Purchase Tickets Here
$8 – Adults
$5 – Child/Senior/Student
Last Meeting vs. Molloy
Mercy earned a 12-7 win at Molloy on April 6, 2024.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 27-8 win over D'Youville on Sunday. The Mavericks were led by junior Ryan Smith who had a school-record 15 points and 10 assists in the win. Mercy earned the top seed in the Championship after going a perfect 6-0, winning their fifth straight ECC Regular Season Championship. Mercy has won 35 straight games against ECC competition with their last loss coming in the ECC Semifinals in 2018. The Mavericks are making their ninth straight appearance in the ECC Championship. Mercy looks to win their fifth straight ECC Tournament Championship.
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 has a team-high 56 points on 23 goals and a team-high 33 assists with 26 ground balls. Senior Andrew Calabria has been tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll four times and has 53 points on 26 goals and 27 assists. The senior recorded his 100th career point in the win over Bentley on February 23rd. Senior Brody Caskenette was named to the USILA D2 Team of the Week on April 24th and has 48 points on a team-high-tying 33 goals with 15 assists. Freshman Christopher Bergersen was named ECC Rookie of the Week on April 22nd and has 21 goals and five assists. Graduate student TJ Heyder has been named to the ECC Honor Roll four times and has 33 goals with 13 assists. Sophomore Devon Duchnowski has recorded 21 goals and six assists. Smith was named ECC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday has 10 goals and 15 assists on the year.
Senior Damiano Ferrara was named to the ECC Honor Roll on April 22nd has six goals, five assists and recorded his 100th career ground ball against Georgian Court on February 27th. Senior Tyler Pjatak has five goals, three assists,46 ground balls and 21 caused turnovers. Graduate student Justin Gerdvil has been named ECC Defensive Player of the Week three times and tabbed to the USILA D2 Team of the Week on March 5th and has a team-high 29 caused turnovers with 45 ground balls and senior Owen Stephenson has 15 caused turnovers with 34 ground balls. Gerdvil recorded his 200th career ground ball against Roberts Wesleyan on March 16th and his 100th career caused turnover against Frostburg State on April 13th.
Senior Jason Kuehner has been named ECC Offensive Player of the Week twice, has been tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll six times and was named to the USILA D2 Team of the Week on February 27th. He is 225-328 (.686) on faceoffs with a team-high 133 ground balls. Kuehner recorded his 500th career faceoff win against Mercyhurst on April 21st. Freshman Cameron Dorfman has been named ECC Defensive Player of the Week three times and Rookie of the Week five times. Dorfman is 9-1 in goal with 110 saves, a .576 save percentage and 8.72 goals-against average. Sophomore Peter Murphy was named ECC Defensive Player of the Week on April 8th and is 3-0 in goal with 31 saves, a .470 save percentage and 11.67 goals-against average.
The Mavericks are ranked No. 5 nationally in the USILA poll and No. 5 in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll. Mercy was ranked No. 2 in the latest North Region Regional Rankings released last week. The Mavericks are 15-1 all-time against Molloy and defeated the Lions 19-9 in the Semifinals last season.
Scouting the Lions
Molloy is coming off an 18-15 loss at Wilmington in their regular season finale on Friday. The Lions were picked fourth in the ECC Preseason Poll after going 9-9 last season. Molloy is making their fourth straight ECC Championship appearance. The Lions look to advance to the Final for the first time. Molloy has been led by Chris Delaney who has a team-high 50 points on 30 goals and 20 assists and by Noah Taylor who has 19 goals and a team-high 26 assists. Justin Palulis has a team-high 31 goals and Brian Green and Tommy Corcoron both have 34 points. Brandon Pazienza is 214-397 (.539) on faceoffs with a team-high 131 ground balls and Eric Schiller has a team-high 18 caused turnovers. Christian Michaels is 7-9 in goal with 201 saves, a .530 save percentage and 11.75 goals-against average.
Next Game
The winner of Wednesday's game will play in the ECC Championship Final on Saturday, May 4th against the winner of #2 Frostburg State/#3 Roberts Wesleyan at the highest remaining seed.
