WALTHAM, Mass. – No. 17 Bentley University hung tough with Mercy, the No. 6 ranked team in Division II, but the Mavericks pulled away in the 4^th quarter for a 15-9 victory on Saturday afternoon.

The Falcons trailed 5-1 after the 1^st quarter but chipped away at the deficit in the 2^nd and 3^rd quarters. They outscored Mercy 5-4 in the 2^nd and 2-1 in the 3^rd to get to within 10-8 heading into the final quarter.

But Mercy pulled away in the 4^th quarter with five goals to secure the win.

A goal by Bentley's Ben Baldasaro (Exeter, N.H./Exeter) with 4:40 remaining in the 3^rd quarter, Baldasaro's 4^th goal of the day, got the Falcons to within 9-8. But Mercy's Brody Caskenette scored with just two seconds left in the quarter to give them a 10-8 lead after 45 minutes of action.

Mercy struck twice inside the first four minutes of the 4^th quarter to take a 12-8 lead, including a man-up goal by TJ Heyder.

Bentley's Luke Jaber (Milton, Mass./BC High), the reigning NE10 Player of the Week, scored with 8:16 left to make it 12-9. But that was Bentley's final goal of the day.

The Mavericks proceeded to score twice within six seconds after Jaber's goal to open up a 14-9 advantage.

Baldasaro led the Bentley offense with four goals and Jaber and freshman David Gagnon (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) each had two.

Junior Jake Tyska (Natick, Mass./Wayland) led the Falcons with six ground balls.

Bentley (2-1, 1-0 NE10) is back in action next Saturday at Pace.