Leon Jr. and Sani Lead Way as Men's Soccer Hosts LIU Post on Senior Day
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Oct. 25, 2014) – Seniors Danny Leon Jr. (Flushing, N.Y./Benjamin Cardozo) and Mubarak Sani (Bronx, N.Y./Borough of Manhattan CC) and junior Juan Gatti (New Rochelle, N.Y./INJ (Monroe CC)) all recorded goals as the Mercy College men's soccer team celebrated Senior Day with a valiant effort against fellow ECC member LIU Post on Saturday afternoon.
Before the game, seniors Jonathan Garcia (Falls Church, Va./McLean (ASA College)), Sani, Christian Diaz (Watsonville, Calif./Watsonville (Univ. of Vermont)), Andrew Levy (Bayside, N.Y./Bayside (Berkeley College)), Juan Carlos Murgueitio (Jackson Heights, N.Y./Arts & Business), Leon Jr., Ryan Flynn (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream South) and Tafari Newman (Bronx, N.Y./Meadowbrook/Evander Childs) were recognized for their achievements during their Mercy careers.
The Pioneers improve to 11-3-1 overall and 6-1-1 in league play, while the Mavericks drop to 3-12 overall and 2-6 in the ECC standings.
The opening stanza saw Mercy hang tough with the perennial ECC contender Pioneers, holding them off the scoreboard for the first 25 minutes while maintaining an edge in shots.
LIU Post would break through for the first goal of the contest in the 26th minute off a shot from Matias Ruiz who fired one from 40 yards with the goalkeeper out to take a 1-0 lead.
The guests tacked on another in the 28th minute to build a 2-0 lead, but Leon Jr. wasn't going to allow anyone to ruin his senior day as he scored his team-high-tying fourth goal of the season in the 30th minute off a feed from Gatti following a corner kick to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Pioneers would receive a pair of goals at the end of the half by Eivind Austboe before he was red carded in the 44th minute and left LIU Post playing down a man in a contest that was chippy throughout. The visitors went into the locker rooms up 4-1 at the break, but the Mavericks maintained a 13-10 edge in shots and forced the Pioneers goalie to make four saves.
Mercy came out re-energized in the second half and held control in the visitor's end for most of the half, holding a 10-2 margin in shots in the period and their persistence would finally pay off in the 85th minute when Gatti scored his second of the year after taking a throughball on the right side from Garcia and fired it inside the right post to make it 4-2.
The Mavericks kept on fighting and struck again with less than a minute to play when Sani took a cross from Gatti and one-timed it into the lower right corner for his team-high-tying fourth of the campaign to make it 4-3. Despite carrying all the momentum, time would run out for Mercy in their late game comeback and LIU Post would escape with the win.
Mercy ended the match with a 23-12 edge in shots and a 9-7 advantage in shots on goal.
Leon Jr. ended the day with seven shots, while Diaz led the team with nine shots and four shots on goal. Levy finished with three shots and Sani added two, while sophomore goalkeeper Luis Lizarzaburu (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) made three saves.
Head Coach Chris Smith and the Mavericks remain at home and take on ECC rival Dowling on Wednesday, October 29th at 3 p.m.
