Sanguina Tallies Goal as Men's Soccer Plays at UDC in ECC Showdown
Box Score ARLINGTON, Va. (Oct. 3, 2015) – Despite a goal from graduate student Junior Sanguina (Valhalla, N.Y./SUNY Purchase), the Mercy College men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to the University of the District of Columbia in an East Coast Conference (ECC) showdown on Saturday afternoon at Long Bridge Park.
The Mavericks (4-6, 2-2 ECC) lose their second in a row and fall to .500 in league play, while the Firebirds (3-6-1, 1-3 ECC) earn their first conference win of the season.
Sanguina finished with a team-high-tying two shots on goal and freshman Donovan Cesar (Jamaica, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) also contributed two shots on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Kwantarian Van der Lara (Conway, Ark./Marshalltown CC) made his first start as a Maverick and finished with an assist and five saves in a losing effort.
Maurice Schwab and Nelson Moreno recorded the two goals on the day for District of Columbia, while goalkeeper Louis Connor made five saves to pick up the win.
Mercy came out as the aggressors in the opening half as they had four shots in the first 13 minutes. Sanguina got the Mavericks on the board in the 16th minute when he took a punt from Van der Lara and took advantage of a breakaway situation to give Mercy a 1-0 lead.
Cesar brought the Mavericks back looking for more just a minute after the goal, but Connor ensued with a save to keep it 1-0. Van der Lara was forced to make a pair of saves later in the frame, but the Firebirds would break through with a goal in the 26th minute as Schwab took a corner kick from Elio Hernandez and fired a shot into the back of the net to knot the score up at 1-1.
The two teams concluded the half with each team having a couple of scoring chances, but neither team was able to get another goal and the score remained 1-1 heading into halftime.
The Mavericks held an 11-8 edge in shots at halftime and came out firing again in the second half but were unable to tack on a goal. The game remained tied at 1-1 heading into the later stages of the second half when the Firebirds found the go-ahead goal in the 80th minute as Moreno took a corner kick that was headed by both Hernandez and Mehdi Badache and put it into the goal to give the home team a 2-1 lead.
Mercy came back looking for the equalizer but were unable to tie the game as Connor made a save on a Daniel Watson (Birmingham, England/Monroe College) shot with less than a minute remaining to preserve the win.
The Mavericks finished the second half with a 7-3 edge in shots to finish the contest with an 18-11 margin in shots.
Head Coach Chris Smith and the Mavericks will look to get back in the win column as they travel to NYIT on Wednesday, October 7th for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
