Tampa holds off Mercy College to win Division II men's lacrosse title

Cole Willard made his final year of college lacrosse count for the University of Tampa.

Willard scored four times on Sunday to spark Tampa past Mercy College, 11-7, in the NCAA Division II men’s lacrosse championship game in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Tampa is 21-0.

Willard is a former Cazenovia standout who played four seasons at Penn State and then transferred to Tampa, using the extra year granted by the NCAA because of COVID.

The midfielder was nearly perfect Sunday, producing those four goals on five shots.

Luke McAnaney added a pair of goals for Tampa.

Carey graduate Dominic Scorcia of Franklin Square had two goals and an assist with four ground balls for Mercy (16-2). Scorcia scored early in the fourth to cut Mercy’s deficit to 10-7.

The championship was the first for Tampa in the sport.

Mercy had plenty of players from Long Island who helped keep it close after the Mavericks fell behind 8-4 at halftime.

North Bellmore native Jack Gibbons, a Mepham grad, had a goal and finished with a team-high five shots on goal.

TJ Heyder of Port Jefferson had a goal and Andrew Calabria of Ronkonkoma chipped in with an assist. Justin Gerdvil of Northport had a game-high five forced turnovers and junior PJ Argiros of Levittown went 9-for-20 on faceoffs with five ground balls.

Goalie Tommy Umano of Seaford made 11 saves.

Mercy entered this game with a lot of experience, and that helped the Mavericks turn this season into a special one after a tough regular-season loss on March 5.

After losing to Le Moyne, 8-7, (Le Moyne was the top-ranked Division II team in the nation at the time), Mercy College reeled off 13 straight wins, including a revenge win in the national semifinals with a 12-11 double-overtime victory over Le Moyne.

— TNS