Goals From Noble and Serna Lead Women's Soccer to 2-0 Triumph Over Dowling
Box Score SHIRLEY, N.Y. (Oct. 21, 2015) – Led by goals from freshman Haley Noble (Torrance, Calif./Torrance) and sophomore Heidi Serna (West Covina, Calif./South Hills), the Mercy College women's soccer team earned a 2-0 win over East Coast Conference (ECC) foe Dowling College on Wednesday afternoon at Golden Lions Field.
The Mavericks (6-5-2, 4-3 ECC) move into third place in the ECC standings with the top four teams qualifying for the season-ending ECC Tournament. The Golden Lions (5-7-1, 2-3-1 ECC) have now lost three of their last four.
Noble connected on her fifth goal of the year which ties her with fellow freshman Lauren Calderaro (La Verne, Calif./Bonita) for the team lead, while Serna picked up her third of the year. Seniors Dawn Hickey (Bohemia, N.Y./Connetquot) and Jessica DeLeon (Phoenix, Ariz./Paradise Valley CC) each recorded a shot on goal and senior goalkeeper Nicole Augustine (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) made five saves to pick up the shutout in net, improving to 4-5-1 on the year.
Dowling was led by Felicia Mulholland and Allie Merrill who each fired a pair of shots on goal, while goalkeeper Mariah Valva stopped five shots in taking the loss.
The Golden Lions started off with the first two shots of the contest, but Augustine made her lone save of the first half at the 1:19 mark to keep the game scoreless.
The Mavericks had their first scoring chance of the game come in the 14th minute when DeLeon took a penalty kick. However, Valva came up with the stop and the score remained 0-0. Mercy continued to apply pressure to the Dowling backline as Noble forced Valva to make three consecutive saves and Serna headed a ball that hit the crossbar.
Noble finally got the Mavericks on the board in the 22nd minute, beating the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation with a shot to the lower right corner to put Mercy up 1-0.
The Mavericks would add an insurance goal in the 38th minute as Serna connected on a penalty kick following a Golden Lions foul and yellow card to give Mercy a 2-0 advantage.
The score remained 2-0 heading into the intermission with the Mavericks owning a 9-6 edge in shots.
The second stanza saw Dowling come out with a sense of urgency but they could not get on the board as Augustine came up with four stops in the frame to preserve the shutout win for Mercy.
The Golden Lions ended the second half with a 9-4 advantage in shots to end the game outshooting the Mavericks 15-13.
Head Coach Jonathan Feinstein and the Mavericks look to build off the win as they host Queens College for Senior Day on Saturday, October 24th at 12 p.m.
