Three Mavericks Score as Men's Soccer Defeats Daemen in ECC Matchup
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 25, 2015) – The Mercy College men's soccer team received goals from graduate students Juan Gatti (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Monroe CC) and Junior Sanguina (Valhalla, N.Y./SUNY Purchase) and sophomore Haxhi Verjoni (Cornwall, N.Y./Marlboro), en route to a 3-1 win over East Coast Conference (ECC) foe Daemen College on Friday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (3-4, 1-1 ECC) match their win total from last year with the win and improve to .500 in league play, while the Wildcats (2-5, 0-1 ECC) have now dropped four of their last five games.
Haxhi Verjoni ended the contest with a team-high two shots on goal, while freshman Lucca Lacerda (Passos, Brazil/Monroe College) added a pair of assists. Freshman Mariglen Verjoni (Cornwall, N.Y./Cornwall) also chipped in an assist and redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Julio Sanchez (Henderson, Colo./Otero JC) made three saves in picking up the win and improving to 2-4 on the year.
Alex Reid picked up the lone goal of the day for the Wildcats and goalkeeper Justin Figler made four saves in a losing effort.
In a contest that saw all four goals come in the first half, the Mavericks got on the board first in the 11th minute as Gatti took a throughball just outside the box from Lacerda and fired it past Figler to give Mercy a 1-0 lead.
The Mavericks would keep on the attack and strike again as Sanguina put in a rebound of a Lacerda shot in the 16th minute to make it 2-0 in favor of the home team.
Mercy looked to have things well in hand, but the Wildcats made things interesting as they quickly responded with a goal of their own in the 18th minute to make it 2-1.
However, the momentum for Daemen would be short lived as Haxhi Verjoni took a cross from his brother Mariglen Verjoni and put it past the keeper to give the Mavericks a 3-1 lead.
The score would remain tied at 2-2 heading into the intermission with Mercy holding a 9-2 edge in shots.
The second half was evenly played as neither team could get on the board and shots for the period were knotted up at 5-5. Sanchez made three saves in the frame to help keep the Wildcats scoreless in the second half, securing the win for the Mavericks.
Mercy capped off the day with a 14-7 edge in shots, while the two teams were even at 3-3 in corner kicks.
Head Coach Chris Smith and the Mavericks will look to build off the win as they host Roberts Wesleyan on Sunday, September 27th at 12 pm.
