BUFFALO, N.Y. (Mar. 22, 2025) – Powered by junior Kenneth Summit (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Limestone University) going 19-of-22 on faceoffs with a game-high 15 ground balls, the No. 16 Mercy University men's lacrosse team earned a 15-6 win at D'Youville University in their ECC opener on Saturday afternoon.

The Mavericks (4-3, 1-0 ECC) win their 10th straight ECC opener and have won 36 consecutive games against ECC competition. Mercy improves to 4-0 all-time against the Saints (4-6, 0-2 ECC).

Mercy was led by Summit who went 19-of-22 on faceoffs with a career-high 15 ground balls. Graduate student Aidan Babnik (Carmel, N.Y./LIU) had a game-high five points on three goals and two assists. Junior Devon Duchnowski (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) and freshman Cole Hunsberger (Waterloo, Ontario/Grand River Collegiate Institute) both had three goals and senior Ryan Smith (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) had two goals and two assists. Graduate student Jimmy Osorio (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Newberry College) had two goals and senior Shane Roche (Milford, Pa./Onondaga CC) had a goal and two assists. Sophomore Christopher Bergersen (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) recorded a goal and an assist and juniors AJ Barone (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) and Danny Fitzgerald (Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) both had an assist. Freshman Gavin Lamere (Plainview, N.Y./Herricks) had a game-high-tying two caused turnovers with two ground balls and junior Michael Corbo (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) had five ground balls. Sophomore Cameron Dorfman (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) made six saves in three quarters to earn the win. Junior Peter Murphy (Port Jefferson, N.Y./Port Jefferson) made two saves in the fourth quarter without allowing a goal.

D'Youville was led by Stefano Evan and Obrigh Tallchief who both had two goals and an assist. Casey Berns made a game-high 15 saves to take the loss.

A Duchnowski goal just over 30 seconds into the game gave Mercy an early 1-0 lead. Jonathan Abbarno evened the score at 1-1 with a goal at the 10:16 mark. Goals from Osorio, Smith and Roche gave the Mavericks a 4-1 lead with 4:50 left in the first quarter. An Evan goal later made it 4-2 before Babnik closed the quarter with a goal to give Mercy a 5-2 lead after the first quarter.

Hunsberger and Babnik scored the first two goals of the second quarter to put the Mavericks up, 7-2, with 5:33 left in the half. Back-to-back D'Youville goals made it 7-4 at the 2:10 mark. Hunsberger and Bergersen answered back with two straight goals to increase Mercy's lead back to five, 9-4, with 39 seconds left. A late Saints goal cut the Mavericks' lead to four, 9-5, at halftime.

D'Youville scored the first goal of the third quarter to make it 9-6 with 12:06 left in the quarter. Duchnowski closed the quarter with two straight goals to give Mercy an 11-6 lead after three quarters.

The Mavericks held the Saints scoreless in the fourth quarter and scored four more goals to come away with the 15-6 win. Hunsberger made it 12-6 at the 10:43 mark and Osorio later made it 13-6 with 7:50 left. Smith and Babnik recorded the final two goals for the Mavericks to give Mercy a lead they would not relinquish.

Mercy held a 51-30 edge in shots, a 39-22 edge in ground balls and went 21-of-25 on faceoffs.

Head Coach Ryan MacSpadyen and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, March 29th when they host Roberts Wesleyan at 2 p.m.