DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Oct. 20, 2018) – Led by goals from senior Chris Valverde (New York, N.Y./ASA College) and junior Maximiliano Rebolledo-Camus (Santiago, Chile/Saint George's College), the No. 8 Mercy College men's soccer team earned a 2-1 victory over ECC foe NYIT on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (9-2-1, 6-2 ECC) remain in a tie for first place in the ECC standings and with a win next week over UDC would secure the No. 1 seed in the ECC Tournament. NYIT (7-6-1, 3-4-1 ECC) is eliminated from ECC Tournament contention with the loss. Mercy defeats the Bears for the first time at home since 2012.
Valverde recorded his first goal as a Maverick and Rebolledo-Camus netted his fifth goal of the season. Senior Freddy Marcel (Bay Shore, N.Y./SUNY Delhi) added an assist and sophomore Jordan Williams (Newton, N.J./North Carolina Wesleyan College) made four saves to earn the win.
NYIT was led by Dan Lembo who scored and by Xavi Senlik who dished out an assist. Andrew Pereira made one save to take the loss.
Mercy wasted little time in getting on the board as Rebolledo-Camus received a ball from Marcel and made his way through the NYIT defense before finding the back of the net on a shot to the upper right to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.
The score remained 1-0 as Williams made two saves in the half. Mercy added an insurance goal with less than 30 seconds left in the half when Valverde fired a shot into the lower left after a turnover by the Bears defense to make it 2-0 Mavericks at halftime.
Williams made another stop in the 57th minute, but the Bears would get on the board in the 58th minute when Lembo scored after a pass from Senlik to make it 2-1.
Mercy would have several more good scoring opportunities but would be unable to score. Williams made one more save in the contest and the Mercy backline surrendered just seven NYIT shots in the second half to help preserve the win.
Mercy held a 16-13 edge in shots and an 8-4 edge in corner kicks.
Head Coach Pedro Velazquez and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, October 23rd when they play at Chestnut Hill at 7 p.m.
