Mejia's Overtime Goal Leads Women's Soccer to 2-1 Win Over St. Thomas Aquinas
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Oct. 10, 2015) – Redshirt freshman Ileen Mejia (Whittier, Calif./La Mirada) scored the game-winning goal in the second minute of overtime as the Mercy College women's soccer team defeated St. Thomas Aquinas College, 2-1, in an East Coast Conference (ECC) matchup on Saturday afternoon.
The Mavericks (5-3-2, 3-2-0 ECC) have now won two in a row and improve to 3-1-2 at home, while the Spartans (3-8-0, 1-4-0 ECC) have now lost two in a row.
Mejia tallied her first goal of the season and had two shots, while freshman Haley Noble (Torrance, Calif./Torrance) scored her fourth goal of the season in the 61st minute to open the scoring in the contest. Senior Jessica DeLeon (Phoenix, Ariz./Paradise Valley CC) and freshman Corinna Ferrante (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) finished with assists and senior goalkeeper Nicole Augustine (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) made two saves in picking up the win, improving to 3-3-1 on the year.
Alyssa Rosania scored the Spartans lone goal and goalkeeper Courtney Dumain made six saves in a losing effort.
Mercy controlled the action for most of the game, maintaining possession in the Spartans end throughout but were unable to find the tie-breaking goal in regulation.
The first half saw the Mavericks maintain a 5-0 edge in shots and 5-0 margin in corner kicks, but were unable to get on the board as the two teams headed into halftime scoreless.
The Mavericks came out once again as the aggressors in the second half, but were hurt by a pair of offside calls to begin the frame. Mercy finally ended the scoring drought in the 61st minute as Noble headed in a cross from DeLeon following a corner to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead.
Mercy continued to attack and looked for an insurance goal, but back-to-back shots from freshman Kennedy Salerno (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) hit the post and was stopped by Dumain to keep it 1-0 in the 84th minute.
With time winding down it looked like the Mavericks had sealed their third conference win of the season. However, St. Thomas Aquinas had other plans as Rosania scored off a cross from Lindsey Sansone following a Kathryn Kerrigan corner kick in the 87th minute to knot the score up at 1-1.
Neither team could find the game-winning goal in regulation so the teams headed to overtime.
Mercy, playing in their third overtime game of the season, wasted little time in ending the game as Mejia took a pass from Ferrante that found its way just inside the box and the redshirt freshman fired it past a charging Dumain to give the Mavericks a dramatic 2-1 win in the 92nd minute.
The contest saw Mercy finish with a 12-5 edge in shots and a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.
Head Coach Jonathan Feinstein and the Mavericks will look to make it three in a row as they travel to American International on Monday, October 12th for a 3 p.m. kickoff.
