Late Goal Gives Dowling Edge Over Men's Soccer in Season Finale
Box Score OAKDALE, N.Y. (Oct. 29, 2011) – On Saturday afternoon the Mercy College men's soccer team traveled to Dowling College on Long Island for the final match of the season. The Mavericks controlled the game in the first half but the Golden Lions battled back as the match wore on, finally getting the game-winner in the 88th minute to end their season with a 6-7-3 overall record (1-4-2 in the ECC) and leave the Mavericks with a 6-10-1 overall mark (1-6 in the ECC).
Mercy outshot Dowling, 22-18, over the match, including forcing 12 saves of senior goalkeeper Chris Kucera (Sayville, N.Y.) as three Mavericks – freshman forward Ernest Afful (Accra, Ghana), senior midfielder Colin Legge (Schodack, N.Y.) and junior midfielder Mubarak Sani (Bronx, N.Y.) – tallied three shots on goal each. However, their efforts were to no avail as senior back Chris Cano (Staten Island, N.Y.)'s goal off a corner kick was all the Golden Lions needed to earn their only conference win of the season and deny Mercy a season-ending two-game win streak.
Sophomore goalkeeper Nick Papas (Castleton, N.Y.) capped an impressive season in net with seven saves in the one-goal loss, the Mavericks' fifth in ECC play this year. Papas' 1,580 minutes played this season ranked fourth all-time at Mercy, while his 86 saves and three shutouts tied for sixth. His 1.43 goals against average is the 11th-best in a season and his .774 save percentage ranks 10th.
Senior back Keith Dillon (Dublin, Ireland) and graduate student forward Ben Latchford (Birmingham, England) ended their careers at Mercy tied for second all-time with 63 appearances.
