DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (May 12, 2024) – Despite seven Mavericks recording a point, the No. 2 seeded Mercy University men's lacrosse team dropped a 14-11 decision to No. 3 seeded Saint Anselm College in the NCAA Division II Men's Lacrosse Championship Quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (14-2) see their 10-game winning streak come to an end and fall to the Hawks (12-4) in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Mercy sees their season end in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season. Saint Anselm will play in the National Semifinals at Adelphi on Sunday, May 19th at 1 p.m.
Mercy was led by senior Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) who had a team-high five points on a goal and four assists. Graduate student TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) and senior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) both had three goals and one assist and junior Ryan Smith (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) and senior Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District Secondary School) each had two goals. Freshman Christopher Bergersen (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) and sophomore AJ Barone (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) each had an assist and senior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 19-of-27 on faceoffs with nine ground balls. Freshman Cameron Dorfman (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) made six saves to take the loss.
Saint Anselm was led by Jake Davis who had a game-high seven points on five goals and two assists. Finn Granara made a game-high 15 saves to earn the win.
The game remained scoreless for nearly eight minutes when Maverick Lyon scored at the 7:06 mark to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. Heyder quickly answered with a goal from Gibbons to tie the game at 1-1 with 6:38 left in the first quarter. Gibbons later gave Mercy a 2-1 lead following an assist from Calabria with 3:46 remaining in the quarter. Back-to-back Saint Anselm goals gave the visitors a 3-2 lead with 2:20 on the clock. A Caskenette goal from Gibbons tied the game again at 3-3 before Davis scored the final goal of the quarter to give Saint Anselm a 4-3 lead after the first quarter.
Calabria and Smith opened the scoring in the second quarter to give Mercy a 5-4 lead with 9:06 left in the half. The Hawks scored the next two goals to retake the lead at 6-5 before Calabria netted another goal to tie the game at 6-6 with 5:05 remaining in the half. Saint Anselm scored the final three goals of the half to take a 9-6 lead at halftime.
A Colin Mulvey goal at the 13:00 mark of the third quarter gave the Hawks a 10-6 lead. Smith and Heyder recorded consecutive goals to make it 10-8 with 5:12 left in the third quarter. Goals from Chris Claflin and Davis to end the quarter gave Saint Anselm a 12-8 lead after three quarters.
A Nick Larsen goal with 13:01 remaining gave the Hawks a game-high five-goal lead, 13-8. The Mavericks continued to battle and Caskenette and Heyder scored the next two goals to make it 13-10 with 10:26 left. Joe Lombardi gave the Hawks a 14-10 lead with 9:02 remaining. Calabria cut the Saint Anselm lead to three, 14-11, at the 3:36 mark. Mercy was unable to score again, and the Hawks earned the 14-11 win.
Saint Anselm held a 42-35 edge in shots. Mercy held a 33-25 edge in ground balls and the Mavericks went 20-of-29 on faceoffs.
