WEST HAVEN, Conn. (Feb. 26, 2025) – Powered by seven different Mavericks scoring and a game-high nine saves from junior Olivia LaMonica (Oak Ridge, N.J./Jefferson Township), the Mercy University women's lacrosse team earned an 11-10 win at No. 16 University of New Haven on Wednesday afternoon at Kathy Zolad Stadium.
The Mavericks (2-0) start 2-0 for the first time since 2021 and defeat the Chargers (1-1) for the second straight year. Mercy wins at New Haven for the first time in four all-time meetings.
Mercy was led by junior Maeghan Callow (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) who had a team-high-tying three goals with one assist and three draw controls. Senior Leah Hansen (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields) had a team-high-tying three goals and sophomore Juliana Talenti (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) recorded a game-high-tying and career-high five points on a goal and a game-high four assists. Sophomore Riley Wallace (Islip, N.Y./Islip) scored a goal and had five draw controls and freshman Kayden Meyer (Mastic, N.Y./William Floyd) scored her first collegiate goal. Freshman Marena Morales (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) and Ashlinn Kelly (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) also scored. Senior Lindsey Shimborske (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had a game-high four ground balls, four caused turnovers and nine draw controls. LaMonica made a game-high nine saves to earn the win.
New Haven was led by Katie Schenk who had a game-high-tying five points on a game-high four goals with one assist. Madeline Sage made six saves to take the loss.
The game remained scoreless until the 9:43 mark of the first quarter when Gianna Caprioli scored to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Talenti answered with a goal less than a minute later to tie the game at 1-1. Morales later scored on a free position shot with 8:50 left in the opening quarter, giving Mercy a 2-1 lead. A Schenk goal at the 6:41 mark tied the game at 2-2 before Meyer and Hansen closed the quarter with goals to give Mercy a 4-2 lead after the first quarter.
A Sophia Minnion goal to open the second quarter made it 4-3 before a Callow woman-up goal gave the Mavericks a 5-3 lead with 11:46 left in the half. Minnion and Hansen traded goals to make it 6-4 Mercy with 2:45 remaining in the half. A Lindsey Belmonte goal made it 6-5 before a late Wallace goal, from Talenti, gave the Mavericks a 7-5 lead at halftime.
New Haven scored two goals in the final four minutes of the third quarter to tie the game at 7-7 heading to the fourth quarter.
A Caprioli goal at the 10:28 mark of the fourth quarter gave New Haven an 8-7 lead. However, after two New Haven yellow cards, the Mavericks scored three straight woman-up goals to retake the lead at 10-8 with 7:36 left. Callow got the run started on a free position goal and Hansen and Callow found the back of the cage, off Talenti assists, to give Mercy a two-goal lead. A Schenk goal with 5:05 left made it 10-9, but Shimborske won the ensuing draw control and Kelly scored following a Talenti assist to give Mercy an 11-9 advantage with 4:20 remaining. Schenk scored a goal with 1:36 left to make it 11-10, but LaMonica made a key save with 37 seconds left and the Mavericks withstood a last second shot by Schenk that wide to earn the 11-10 road win.
Mercy held a 24-23 edge in shots and a 17-7 edge in draw controls. New Haven held a 17-11 edge in ground balls.
Head Coach Dawn Sachs and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, March 1st when they host No. 6 Adelphi at 11 a.m.
