Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Men's Soccer team plays a pair of games this week. On Tuesday the Lakers close out non-conference play against Le Moyne. On Saturday the Lakers host cross town rival Gannon in a PSAC West matchup.
The Matchups
The Lakers and Le Moyne have only played each other four times dating back to 2001. Mercyhurst won the first two matchups and the Dolphins have won the last two games. The two teams last met in 2017 when Le Moyne won 7-1 on their home field.
Gannon and Mercyhurst have played every year since 1976, the cross-town rivals have played 54 games since then. The Lakers have an all time record of 33-19-2 against the Golden Knights. The Lakers are 7-3 in the last 10 games against Gannon.
Go Time
The Lakers played just once last week and earned a point against Cal (PA) in a 1-1 draw. Mercyhurst enters the week with a record of 5-3-1 and a conference record of 1-1-1.
Nevado Elliott leads the team in goals and points with six goals and 14 points. Dylan Sumner is just one point behind Elliott with five goals and three assists, he also has a team high 19 shots on goal. 11 different Lakers have scored a goal this season for Mercyhurst with five of them having more then one goal.
Jonathan Gomes has played all but 45 minutes in net for the Lakers. He has made 16 saves while having two clean sheets.
Home Sweet Home
The Lakers are 3-1 at home this season while outscoring opponents 14-5 on the home turf. In the last full season in 2019 the Lakers went 4-1-2 at home.
Quick Look at the Table
Gannon and Seton Hill sit tied atop the PSAC West standings as they both have nine points, they are both 3-0 in PSAC West play. Mercyhurst and Cal (PA) are tied with four points each while Slippery Rock has three and UPJ hasn't earned a point yet.
Scouting Le Moyne
Le Moyne enters the game with Mercyhurst with a 6-3 record while being 3-3 in NE10 play. The Dolphins opened the season with four straight wins but have since gone 2-3 with wins over Bentley and Assumption. Robert Rohrhirsch leads the team in goals (five) and points (10) while Michael Sparkes has three goals and an assist for seven points which is second on the team. Josh Mahr has played every minute in net and has made 27 saves while having a .818 save percentage.
Scouting Gannon
The Golden Knights are 9-1 this season with their lone loss coming Wilmington on Sept. 18. Gannon is currently on a five game winning streak prior to playing Seton Hill on Wednesday. Tinashe Katsande leads the Golden Knights with eight goals and 17 points. Sergio Del Castillo is second in both goals (6) and points (12). Both Maximilian Rocco and David Syntelien have seen time in the cage with Rocco playing most of the minutes. Combined they have a save percentage of .863 and a goals against average of .69.
Up Next
Starting on Oct. 20 the Lakers play Slippery Rock at home prior to playing UPJ on the road on Oct. 23.
