Mercer men’s lacrosse cruises past Wagner for fourth straight win

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (MERCER RELEASE) – The Mercer men’s lacrosse team netted 11 second half scores to break away from a two-point halftime lead and defeat Wagner, 16-5 on Sunday afternoon at Hameline Field.

The Bears’ fourth-straight win pushed the team to 6-3 on the season while Wagner fell to 2-6 overall.

Mercer’s record-setting victory saw senior attackman Zack Ward tie the program’s single-game record for goals (6) while junior midfielder Timmy Geran set a school single-game record with six assists. Junior faceoff specialist Justin Evans tied his single-game program record with 20 faceoffs won.

The Bears’ 16 scores fell just one short of reaching the school’s single-game record set earlier this season versus Boston University.

Ward scored his six goals on 10 shots while also adding an assist and a ground ball in the winning effort. Sophomore Chris Baxa joined Geran with six points, collecting four goals and two assists.

Wagner jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening five minutes before freshman Whit Anderson scored Mercer’s first goal at the 7:46 juncture of the first quarter. Wagner got another score and led 3-1 with less than 10 minutes before halftime, but Mercer scored four more times to go ahead 5-3 at the break.

After splitting the first two points of the second half, Mercer closed the game on a 10-1 scoring streak. The Orange and Black defense was especially dominant during the stretch, holding the Seahawks to just two shots on goal in the final 27 minutes of game time.

Sophomore goalkeeper Mike Nugent made seven saves in 56 minutes of work, while freshman goalkeeper Ryan Smith made a pair of stops in four minutes between the pipes.

Seven different Mercer players caused turnovers in the win, led by sophomore midfielder J.T. Del Tufo’s two caused turnovers.

Mercer returns to action at Air Force on April 5. Game time is scheduled for noon.