#4 Men's Soccer to Face Top Seed No. 14 LIU Post Wednesday in ECC Championship
Box Score BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Nov. 4, 2013) – The #4 seed Mercy College men's soccer team will face top-seeded No. 14 LIU Post in the semifinals of the East Coast Conference Championship on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
The rivals will square off in a rematch of last year's ECC Championship semifinal. In this year's regular season matchup, 110 minutes still were not enough to separate the two teams as they played to a 2-2 tie through double overtime.
LIU Post had held the top spot in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) East Region Poll since the start of the season and climbed to the top spot in the national rankings before a loss to No. 15 Post University, which coupled with the tie against Mercy dropped the Pioneers to No. 15 nationally - they moved back up a spot on Tuesday - and No. 3 in the East Region. They have also been ranked No. 2 in the NCAA East Region rankings, but a recent 2-2 tie with the University of the District of Columbia may drop them further in Wednesday's rankings.
Meanwhile, Mercy's 2-2 tie at then-No. 1 LIU Post vaulted the Mavericks back up to No. 7 in both the NSCAA and NCAA East Region rankings. Mercy has since gone on to remain unbeaten over its final six games, picking up wins over Daemen College (2-1) and Roberts Wesleyan College (3-0) on the final weekend of the regular season to clinch the #4 seed for the second consecutive year.
The Pioneers boast the seventh-ranked offense in the nation as they have scored 3.06 goals per game this season and have given up just one goal per game on defense. Division II Player of the Year candidate junior Eivind Austboe leads the attack and is currently the national runner-up with 20 goals – including a ridiculous nine game-winners – while also having assisted on nine scores for a total of 49 points. Freshman Johann Kristjansson is the ECC Rookie of the Year favorite after a regular-season campaign that has harvested 10 goals and three assists in just six starts, while dynamic senior back Erik Bjornoe has once again led the backline with 1,542 minutes played as he totaled four goals and six assists. Senior goalkeeper Marco Jorgensen ranks second in the conference with a .811 save percentage, posting a 0.98 goals against average while recording four shutouts.
The Mavericks have put together a top-30 nationally ranked defense this year thanks in large part to ECC Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner senior goalkeeper Nick Papas (Castleton, N.Y. / Hudson Valley CC), who leads the ECC with a .835 save percentage and has posted a 0.84 goals against average, including eight shutouts to tie the program record with 15 career clean sheets. On the other side of the field, the Mavericks have been led by sophomore Christian Diaz (Watsonville, Calif. / Univ. of Vermont) from the start of the season despite missing four games and being limited in two due to injury. The Division I transfer has racked up 17 points on seven goals and three assists in just 12 full games while junior Danny Leon Jr. (Flushing, N.Y. / Benjamin Cardozo) leads the team with four game-winning goals, having tallied five total and adding three assists for 13 points on the year. Freshman Michael Ledesma (Miami Beach, Fla. / Miami Beach Senior) has made his presence felt in limited action, scoring five goals and making two assists for a total of 12 points while junior Roberto Dashi (Nyack, N.Y. / Clarkstown South) and senior Ransmond Aboagye (Bronx, N.Y. / Borough of Manhattan CC) have tallied 10 and nine points, respectively.
Head Coach Chris Smith and the Mavericks will take on the two-time defending ECC champions on Wednesday, Nov. 6. Check back at www.MercyAthletics.com for kickoff time and follow us on Twitter @MercyMavericks for live in-game updates.
