Ballin and Williams Score to Give Field Hockey a 2-0 Victory Over ECAC foe No. 10 Limestone in Home Opener
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 4, 2016) – Powered by goals from senior Jackie Ballin (Cupertino, Calif./Cupertino) and sophomore Alicia Williams (Lake Grove, N.Y./Sachem North) and seven saves from sophomore goalkeeper Julia Amell (Greene, N.Y./Greene), the Mercy College field hockey team earned a 2-0 victory in their Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) opener against No. 10 Limestone College in their home opener on Sunday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (1-1, 1-0 ECAC) pick up their first win as a full member of the ECAC and defeat the Saints (0-2, 0-1 ECAC) for the first time in 10 all-time meetings. The win also gives Head Coach Deirdre O'Neill her first win as head coach of the Mavericks.
Ballin scored her first goal of the season and ended the day with two shots on goal, while Williams also tallied her first goal of the year on one shot on goal. Senior Randi Zorn (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) and sophomore Kayly Bryan (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point) added assists and senior Vanessa Soler (Port Monmouth, N.J./Middletown North) finished with two shots on goal. Amell made seven saves in the cage and earned a shutout to improve to 1-1 on the year. Junior Rachel Gumowski (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) and Bryan contributed defensive saves to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.
Limestone was led by Amy Loder who had three shots on goal. Tabria Cochran made three saves in a losing effort.
After a tough loss yesterday in their season opener against Franklin Pierce, the Mavericks came out ready to play against the preseason No. 10 nationally-ranked and ECAC field hockey league preseason favorite Saints.
Limestone controlled the ball in the Mavericks end of the field throughout the first half, with Amell making her first save of the day at the 1:44 mark of the contest. Amell made another save at the 4:23 mark to keep the game scoreless. Soler recorded Mercy's first shot on goal of the day in the 15th minute, but Cochran made a stop and the score stayed at 0-0.
The game remained scoreless for nearly the entire first half until Ballin received a pass from Bryan following a penalty corner and fired it into the back of the cage to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute.
The score stayed at 1-0 in favor of Mercy, despite the Saints holding a 10-4 edge in shots.
The second half saw Limestone maintain possession in the Mavericks end of the field for the majority of the half, but Amell made four saves in the period to keep the Saints off the scoreboard.
Mercy would get their second goal of the day in the 59th minute when Williams took a feed from Zorn, after a shot by Soler following a penalty corner, and put it past the goalie to make it 2-0.
The Mavericks would hold on despite Limestone taking 19 penalty corners in the second half as the Mercy defense kept the Saints off the scoreboard for the full 70 minutes to earn the shutout win.
Limestone held a 20-6 edge in shots and a 27-6 advantage in penalty corners on the day.
Head Coach Deirdre O'Neill and the Mavericks will look to build off the win when they host American International College on Wednesday, September 14th at 4 p.m.
