WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 9, 2019) – Powered by three different Mavericks scoring, the RV Mercy College men's soccer team secured their second straight ECC Regular Season Championship with a 3-1 victory over ECC foe University of the District of Columbia on Saturday afternoon.
The Mavericks (13-3-2, 6-2 ECC) have won two games in a row and match their win total from last year. Mercy shared the regular season championship with LIU Post last season. This is the Mavericks first outright ECC regular season championship since 1989. Mercy will be the No. 1 seed in the ECC Tournament for the second straight year and will host No. 4 seed Molloy on Wednesday, November 13th. The Firebirds (7-11, 4-4 ECC) miss out on making the ECC Tournament by a game with the loss.
Seniors Maximiliano Rebolledo-Camus (Santiago, Chile/Saint George's College), Manuel Achondo (Santiago, Chile/Colegio Del Verbo Divino) and Ignacio Mangada (Alicante, Spain/Campbellsville University) all scored. The goal was the eighth for Mangada, fifth for Rebolledo-Camus and fourth for Achondo. Sophomore Rainiero Salas (Panama City, Panama/Alderson Broaddus University) dished out his second assist and sophomore Archie Jones (London, England/Northbridge) dished out his fifth assist. Junior Joel Serrano (Arecibo, P.R./Marshalltown CC) made three saves to earn the win.
UDC was led by Gabriel Velluto who scored. Javier Abadia made six saves to take the loss.
Mangada opened up the scoring in the 19th minute following an assist from Jones to make it 1-0. Serrano made three saves in the first half and Abadia stopped four shots in the opening half to keep the score at 1-0 heading into halftime.
The score remained 1-0 until the 57th minute when Achondo scored on a penalty kick to make it 2-0. The Firebirds inched closer with a goal in the 63rd minute to make it 2-1. However, the Mavericks put the finishing touches on the win in the 82nd minute when Rebolledo-Camus scored following a pass from Salas to make it 3-1.
The Mavericks backline did not surrender a shot for the remainder of the game to earn the ECC Championship.
Mercy held an 11-7 edge in shots and a 3-1 edge in corner kicks.
Head Coach Pedro Velazquez and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, November 13th when they host Molloy in an ECC Championship Semifinal matchup at 1 p.m.
