Ballin and Williams Combine for Three Goals and Three Assists as Field Hockey Overcomes Two-Goal Deficit to Defeat Southern Connecticut State, 4-3
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Oct. 19, 2016) – Powered by a game-high five points from senior Jackie Ballin (Cupertino, Calif./Cupertino) and a game-high two goals from sophomore Alicia Williams (Lake Grove, N.Y./Sachem North), the Mercy College field hockey team scored four second half goals to overcome a two-goal deficit and earn a 4-3 victory over Southern Connecticut State University on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (5-10) snap a two-game losing streak and reach a season high in goals, while the Owls (4-11) have dropped two in a row.
Williams now has a team-high six goals on the year, while Ballin now has five goals and a team-high five assists on the year. Also, scoring for the Mavericks was senior Vanessa Soler (Port Monmouth, N.J./Middletown North) and sophomore Angela Robbins (Linwood, N.J./Mainland Regional) added an assist. Sophomore goalkeeper Cheradyn Pettit (Colorado Springs, Colo./Lewis Palmer) made seven saves to earn the win and improve to 2-2 on the year.
The Owls received goals from Emily Stross, Vienna Pallisco and Bailey McGinnis. Goalkeeper Brianna Craft made ten saves in a losing effort.
Mercy found themselves in a hole early as McGinnis scored 55 seconds into the game off an assist by Jacqueline Touzos to give the Owls and early 1-0 lead. Southern Connecticut added onto their lead in the 20th minute when Stross scored in close on an unassisted goal to put the guests up 2-0.
The score remained 2-0 heading into halftime as Pettit made four saves to close the period to keep the Owls from adding on any more goals. Southern Connecticut held a 9-7 edge in shots and 9-4 advantage in penalty corners in the first half.
The Owls looked to have the game in hand, but the Mavericks offense would explode for four goals in the second half to lead Mercy to the victory. Following a pair of Craft saves on shots by Williams and Robbins and an Olivia Anderson (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) corner, the Mavericks got on the board in the 43rd minute when Soler received a pass from Ballin and fired the ball into the cage to make it 2-1.
The score remained 2-1 until the 52nd minute when Ballin sent a cross from the left side of the field to in front of the net where Williams put it home to even up the score at 2-2, forcing an Owls timeout.
With momentum on their side, the Mavericks took their first lead of the game in the 66th minute when Robbins sent the ball over to Ballin, who scored to make it 3-2 with less than five minutes left.
Less than two minutes later Williams scored again off another assist from Ballin to give Mercy a 4-2 lead with less than three minutes remaining. Southern Connecticut had one last rally in them as they drew a penalty stroke in the 69th minute with Pallisco finishing it off to make it 4-3. However, timeout ran out on the Owls and the Mavericks completed the dramatic come-from-behind victory in front of the home crowd.
Mercy held an 18-14 edge in shots on the day, while Southern Connecticut maintained a 12-10 advantage in penalty corners.
Head Coach Deirdre O'Neill and the Mavericks look to win their second game in a row when they host Molloy College for Senior Day on Saturday, October 22nd at 1 p.m.
