DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Oct. 28, 2017) – Powered by a hat-trick from sophomore Ally Boots (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza), the No. 23 Mercy College women's soccer team earned a 4-0 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas College on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
In a ceremony prior to the game Head Coach Jonathan Feinstein recognized seniors Ashley Price (Goodyear, Ariz./Millennium), Alyssa Iannuzzi (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa), Heidi Serna (West Covina, Calif./South Hills), Ileen Mejia (Whittier, Calif./La Mirada), Stephanie Escala (Corona, N.Y./Long Island City) and Alexandra Modlinski (Highland Mills, N.Y./Cornwall).
The Mavericks (14-3, 7-1 ECC) have secured the No. 2 seed in next week's ECC Tournament and will host No. 3 seed Molloy College on Wednesday, November 1st at 1 p.m. Mercy can claim a share of the ECC regular season title if LIU Post loses to Bridgeport later today. The Spartans (6-9-1, 2-6 ECC) sees their season come to an end with a loss.
Boots now has 15 goals on the year, placing her second in the ECC, and records her second hat-trick in three games. Also, scoring for the Mavericks was redshirt sophomore RaeAnn Ioannou (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) who netted her third goal of the year. Serna contributed two assists and sophomores Jessica Brandt (Folsom, Calif./Folsom), Trista Seara (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) and Natalia Elizarraras (Whittier, Calif./Los Altos) dished out assists. Price played the full 90 minutes in goal to earn the win on Senior Day.
St. Thomas Aquinas received a shot from Mekenzi Moreau, Francesca Giglio and Victoria DiMarco. Goalkeeper Courtney Dumain made seven saves to take the loss.
Mercy wasted little time in getting on the board as Boots found the back of the net just 1:10 into the contest to put the Mavericks up 1-0. The sophomore received a double pass from Serna and Brandt and finished in the lower right corner of the goal.
The Mavericks continued to apply pressure to the Spartans backline and Boots went at it again, striking in the 8th minute when Serna sent a cross from the left over to in front where Boots fired into the right side to make it 2-0.
Boots did not stop there as she recorded her final goal of the day in the 10th minute when Seara sent a long ball, from near the right corner flag into the middle, where Boots put away her third of the day to give Mercy a 3-0 lead. It remained 3-0 at halftime with the Mavericks holding a 12-2 edge in shots.
It remained 3-0 until the 86th minute when Ioannou put the finishing touches on the win with a goal following a cross from Elizarraras that made it 4-0. The Mavericks held on the rest of the way without allowing a shot on goal.
Mercy held a 20-3 edge in shots and a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Head Coach Jonathan Feinstein and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, November 1st when they host Molloy College in an ECC Tournament Semifinal matchup at 1 p.m.
