DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Nov. 5, 2021) – The Mercy College men's soccer team plays at D'Youville on Saturday, November 6th at 2:30 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Saturday, November 6th 2:30 p.m.
Records: Mercy (8-5-2, 4-2-2 ECC), D'Youville (4-8-3, 0-7-1 ECC)
Location: Buffalo, N.Y.
Last Meeting
Saturday's meeting is the first between the two schools.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to Dominican on Thursday. Freshman Martin Penafiel scored the Mavericks lone goal and junior Jens Ovreseth had an assist. Graduate student Felipe Baeza made four saves to take the loss. Mercy enters Saturday's game in a tie for the fourth and final ECC Tournament spot with Bridgeport. Bridgeport holds the tiebreaker over the Mavericks after defeating them on September 29th. Mercy was ranked 11th in the second NCAA Super Region 1 Regional Rankings released this week with 10 teams qualifying from Super-Region 1. Junior David Breitenbach was named ECC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after scoring the game-winning goal against Daemen on Saturday. Graduate student Pau Echarri is a one-time ECC Offensive Player and Rookie of the Week and leads the team with 14 points on six goals and two assists. Junior Matthias Kuhn, a one-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week, is second on the team with 13 points on a team-high-tying six goals with one assist. Jones is third on the team with 12 points on the year by way of four goals and a team-high four assists. Salas has two goals and three assists on the year and was tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll on September 13th. Senior Javier Mangado has a goal and an assist and Breitenbach has one goal and three assists on the year. Senior Abraham Lopez scored the game-winning goal in Mercy's win over Saint Rose on September 15th and junior Marco Passera has one goal on the year. Freshman Martin Penafiel has two goals and two assists on the year and senior Tormod Simonsen has one assist. Graduate student Felipe Baeza, a one-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week, is 4-4-1 in goal for the Mavericks with 36 saves and a .735 save percentage in nine starts. Freshman Eirik Elvestad is 4-1-1 in goal with four shutouts, 13 saves and a .813 save percentage and was named ECC Rookie of the Week on October 18th.
The Mavericks are looking to defend their ECC Championship from 2019 and look to make the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. In 2019, Mercy went 14-4-3 and won their first ECC Tournament Championship since 2004. The Mavericks were picked first in the ECC Preseason Coaches' Poll and Kuhn was named Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Leading the returners is Kuhn who was named Third Team All-ECC as a freshman. Jones, Saul Melendez Kevin Aguilar, Salas, Vasco Baptista, Hamza Khan and David Sassano return from the team in 2019. Jones had four goals and five assists in 2019 and Salas had a goal and two assists. Head Coach Pedro Velazquez also welcomes nine transfers that have joined the team over the last two years. Simonsen, Mangado and Lopez and juniors Benjamin Van Buren, Passera, Jens Ovreseth, Breitenbach and Isaí Carrillo all joined the team during the 2020-21 academic year and Baeza transferred in for this year. Simonsen transferred from Seton Hill University where he had a goal and an assist in 11 starts in 2019. Mangado transfers from Wheeling University where he had a goal and two assists in 2019 in 14 starts. Lopez joins the team from Harding University where he made five starts and played in 20 games in two years. Van Buren transfers in from Division I USC Upstate where he started 12 games in 2019. Passera played at Spring Hill College in 2019 where he had an assist in 13 games and Ovreseth comes from Davis & Elkins College where he had two goals and four assists in 2019. Breitenbach posted six goals and three assists in 2019 for Barton College prior to joining Mercy. Carrillo joins the team from Notre Dame de Namur University where he started 16 games in 2019 with one assist. Baeza joins the team in 2021 from Division I USC Upstate where he went 5-4-2 in goal with 35 saves in 2020-21.
Scouting the Saints
D'Youville enters Saturday's game coming off a 1-0 loss to Queens on Saturday. The Saints have not won an ECC game but have dropped four one-goal games in conference play. D'Youville did earn a tie against Roberts Wesleyan on October 23rd. The Saints were picked 10th in the ECC Coaches' Poll after going 8-10 in 2019 and 1-2 in the spring of 2021. Senior Nick Dumond leads the Saints with 28 points on 12 goals and four assists and freshman Luis Felipe Santos is second on the team with 14 points by way of seven goals. Freshman Ethan Picard is 3-7-3 in goal with 70 saves, a .787 save percentage, 1.43 goals against average and two shutouts.
