DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – Powered by a game-high 11 points from senior Greg Gibbons (North Bellmore, N.Y./Mepham) and a game-high 16 saves from freshman Cameron Dorfman (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip), the No. 1 seeded Mercy University men's lacrosse team earned an 18-5 win over No. 2 seeded Frostburg State University to secure their fifth straight ECC Men's Lacrosse Championship on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (14-1) win their fifth straight ECC Championship and defeat the Bobcats (13-4) for the third straight time in the Final. Mercy has won 10 games in a row and now awaits their selection in the NCAA Tournament. The selection show will be held at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow night at NCAA.com. The 13-goal margin of victory for the Mavericks is the largest in ECC Men's Lacrosse Championship Final history. Mercy held Frostburg State to a season-low five goals and held ECC Offensive Player of the Year Bubba Love to zero points.
Mercy was led by Gibbons who had a career-high 11 points on three goals and a career-high eight assists. Gibbons was named the Championship's Most Outstanding Player and recorded his 100th career point. The senior has set a new single-season school record with his 47 assists, surpassing the previous record of 44 set by Jesse Wood in 2014. Graduate student TJ Heyder (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) added four goals and five ground balls. Heyder recorded his 200th career point, becoming the sixth Maverick in program history to record 200 points. The graduate student also recorded his 100th career ground ball.
Senior Brody Caskenette (Owen Sound, Ontario/Owen Sound District) had four goals and an assist and senior Andrew Calabria (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) had two goals and two assists. Junior Ryan Smith (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) had two goals and sophomore Devon Duchnowski (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) had a goal and two assists. Freshman Christopher Bergersen (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) also scored and graduate student Justin Gerdvil (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) had a goal and six ground balls. Senior Damiano Ferrara (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) had an assist and senior Jason Kuehner (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) went 21-of-27 on faceoffs with a game-high 11 ground balls. Senior Tyler Pjatak (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) had a game-high four caused turnovers with seven ground balls and Dorfman made a game-high 16 saves to earn the win.
Frostburg State was led by Owen McCallum who had two goals. Nate Jones made 12 saves to take the loss.
Mercy set the tone early, scoring less than 10 seconds into the game with Gibbons finding Caskenette to give the Mavericks an early 1-0 lead. Heyder later made it 2-0 following his first goal of the day, off an assist from Calabria, with 12:10 left in the first quarter. Duchnowski and Bergersen scored the final two goals of the quarter to give Mercy a 4-0 lead after the first quarter.
A McCallum goal to open the second quarter cut the Mercy lead to 4-1. However, Calabria quickly answered with a goal from Gibbons to make it 5-1 at the 12:43 mark. A Chase Buckwalter goal made it 5-2 before back-to-back goals from Heyder gave the Mavericks a 7-2 lead with 8:17 left in the half. Caskenette and Calabria tacked on two more goals to make it 9-2 with 4:33 remaining in the half. Nick Agresta scored the final goal of the half to cut Mercy's lead to 9-3 at halftime.
A Gerdvil goal following the opening faceoff of the third quarter made it 10-3. Austin Sipes later scored at the 8:36 mark to make it 10-4. Smith gave the Mavericks an 11-4 lead after another Gibbons assist before Gibbons added two goals of his own to make it 13-4 with 3:08 left in the quarter. Caskenette scored the final goal of the quarter to give Mercy a commanding 14-4 lead after three quarters.
Frostburg State scored their final goal with 13:05 left to play to make it 14-5. Smith, Heyder, Gibbons and Caskenette scored the next four goals to put the Mavericks up, 18-5, with 5:37 left. Mercy cruised the rest of the way and earned their fifth straight ECC Championship.
Frostburg State held a 43-42 edge in shots. Mercy held a 52-28 edge in ground balls and went 21-of-27 on faceoffs.