Sands Goal in Double Overtime Leads Field Hockey to 3-2 Win Over St. Thomas Aquinas
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 19, 2015) – Sophomore Kimberly Sands (Bethel, Conn./Immaculate) scored the game-winning goal off an assist from junior Vanessa Soler (Port Monmouth, N.J./Middletown North) in the 87th minute of double overtime to lead the Mercy College field hockey team to a 3-2 win over St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks are now 2-3 and surpass their win total from all of last year after their second straight win, while the Spartans drop to 1-5 on the year.
Junior Jackie Ballin (Cupertino, Calif./Cupertino) continued her strong play, finishing with a goal and an assist on nine shots on goal, while Soler added a goal of her own and finished with two assists on the day. Freshman goalkeeper Julia Amell (Greene, N.Y./Greene) made seven stops in the cage to earn the win and improve to 2-3.
The Spartans received a goal apiece from Cyan Scarduzio and Carley Davin. Goalkeeper Nicole Amerling made 12 saves in a losing effort.
St. Thomas Aquinas got ahead early in the contest as Davin took a pass from Jacqueline Dowling in front of the cage and fired it past Amell to make it 1-0 in favor of the visitors after only eight minutes of action.
The Mavericks would ramp up the offense and following a defensive save by the Spartans, Ballin would find the back of the cage taking a ball from Soler in front of the goalkeeper and sliding it by to even things up at 1-1 in the 21st minute.
The two teams would head into the intermission tied up at 1-1 in a half that saw Mercy maintain an 8-3 edge in shots.
The second stanza saw the Mavericks get off to a strong start and take their first lead of the day as Soler put in her second of the season off an assist by Ballin to make it 2-1 in favor of the home team less than two minutes into the period.
The Spartans came right back on the aggressive and forced Amell to make a pair of saves before finding the equalizer in the 51st minute off a Scarduzio penalty stroke goal to knot things up at 2-2.
The Mavericks were able to hold an 8-7 edge in shots in the second half but neither team was able to find the goal that would deliver a win in regulation so the two teams headed to overtime.
The first overtime saw Mercy have the best scoring chance of the frame as Ballin broke free at midfield and was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Amerling stepped up and made the save to keep the contest tied at 2-2.
The game would remain tied at 2-2 after the first overtime so a second extra period was needed. In the second overtime graduate student Giana Magosin (Atlantic City, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) took a penalty corner at the 86:08 mark and in the ensuing seconds Soler fed one over to Sands, who then fired lower left to end the game and give the Mavericks a dramatic double overtime victory.
Mercy ended the contest with a 24-15 edge in shots and a 19-6 margin in penalty corners.
Head Coach Kayte Kinsley and the Mavericks will look to build a three-game winning streak as they host Dowling College on Wednesday, September 23rd at 4 pm.
