Lakewood, N.J. - Ten unanswered tallies by visiting Mercy College to start the game set the tone Saturday afternoon as the #9 Mavericks departed Georgian Court University with a 17-4 non-conference victory in NCAA Division II men's lacrosse action.

After opening the 2021 campaign with a pair of wins, GCU (2-1) suffers its first setback of the year. Nationally-ranked Mercy moves to 2-0.

Michael Ventresca spoiled the Mercy shutout attempt with the Lions' first goal at the 11:23 mark of the third period. Randy Collins contributed a pair of scores to take the team lead with seven goals on the season. Thomas Heegan added the fourth-and-final point of the afternoon for the royal-and-gold with a successful shot at 4:29 of the fourth frame.

Austin Geissel did all he could to hold off the Mavericks as the Lions' star goalkeeper still registered a whopping 19 saves in 45:51 of action. Mercy out-shot its host by a hefty margin of 55-19, controlled 68 of the game's 91 total ground balls, and won 19 of 25 face-off opportunities.

Georgian Court sits idle until next Saturday, March 20 when the Lions open CACC action with a 3:30 p.m. home game vs. the conference's newest addition to the sport, Caldwell University. No spectators will be admitted, but all are invited to follow all the LIVE action on the CACC Network.