Sparkill, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Lacrosse team closed out the home portion of its 2023 schedule, falling to #6/9 nationally ranked Mercy College 17-4 on Sunday afternoon at Spartan Field.
STAC received two goals apiece from Steven Apicella and Carlos Aguilar, but the high-powered offense of the visiting Mavericks was too much to handle.
Mercy held the upper hand in shots (52-35) and ground balls (40-28) and went 26-for-26 on clears. STAC was 20-for-28 on clear attempts. On extra man opportunities, the Mavericks were 2-for-4, while the Spartans were 1-for-3.
STAC falls to 5-7 overall and 1-4 in ECC play with the loss, while Mercy improves to 11-3 and remains perfect in conference action at 5-0.
Steven Apicella scored the first goal for the Spartans, relying on a pass from teammate Michael Huff with the man advantage 1:18 into the third quarter. Apicella and teammate Carlos Aguilar tallied back-to-back goals with six minutes remaining in the stanza. Aguilar added a fourth quarter goal with 4:46 to play, and with the game already well in hand for the Mavericks.
For Mercy, TJ Heyder led the way with five goals, while teammate Brady Kearnan had four goals and four assists. Devon Duchnowski (two goals), Ryan Smith (two goals), Thomas Connors (goal, assist), Andrew Calabria (goal, assist), Danny Fitzgerald (goal) and Jason Kuehner (goal) also contributed to the Mavericks' offense.
Goalie Craig Peavy (L, 4-5) got the start in the cage for STAC and made 16 stops on the afternoon, with Connor Reed coming on in relief in the fourth quarter and making one save. The five-man goalie rotation of Tommy Umano (W, 11-3), Joe Tortorella, Brett Crecco, Peter Murphy and Tyler Vassell combined to stop 15 of 19 Spartan shots.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- STAC tallied 19 shots on goal, with Ryan Christensen and Steven Apicella registering four on net apiece.
- James Staeckeler scooped up team-high five ground balls.
- Austin Palen went 6-for-20 on faceoffs for the Spartans.
UP NEXT
St. Thomas Aquinas wraps up its season at the University of the District of Columbia on Saturday, April 29 at 12:00 p.m.