DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 24, 2021) – The Mercy College men's soccer team plays at Roberts Wesleyan in an ECC matchup on Saturday, September 25th at 3:30 p.m.
Who, When and Where
Date/Time: Saturday, September 25th 3:30 p.m.
Records: Mercy (4-2, 1-0 ECC), Roberts Wesleyan (2-4, 0-1 ECC)
Location: Rochester, N.Y.
Last Meeting vs. Roberts Wesleyan
Mercy earned a 4-0 win over Roberts Wesleyan on November 2, 2019.
Scouting the Mavericks
Mercy is coming off a 2-1 loss to Georgian Court on Tuesday. The Mavericks were led by junior Marco Passera who scored and by senior Javier Mangado who had an assist. The loss was Mercy's first home loss since November 3, 2018. The Mavericks had gone 14-0-2 in their last 16 home games prior to Tuesday's game. Mercy has won four of the last five meetings against Roberts Wesleyan with the lone loss coming in the last meeting in Rochester on October 17, 2018. Mercy is ranked fifth in the latest United Soccer Coaches East Region Poll. Senior Rainiero Salas has a team-high-tying five points on the year on two goals and one assist and junior Matthias Kuhn has two goals and an assist. Kuhn was named ECC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. Salas was tabbed to the ECC Honor Roll on September 13th. Senior Archie Jones has a goal and an assist, senior Javier Mangado also has a goal and an assist and graduate student Pau Echarri also has a goal. Senior Abraham Lopez also has a goal on the year, scoring the game-winning goal in Mercy's win over Saint Rose on September 15th. Senior Tormod Simonsen and freshman Martin Penafiel have an assist on the year. Graduate student Felipe Baeza is 2-1 in goal for the Mavericks with seven saves and a .700 save percentage in three starts. Freshman Eirik Elvestad made the start against Staten Island and is 2-1 in goal with three saves and two shutouts.
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 junior Matthias 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, David 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 Redhawks
Roberts Wesleyan enters Saturday's game on a two-game losing streak, coming off a 2-1 loss at Molloy on Saturday. The Redhawks two wins on the year have come against Stonehill and Malone. Roberts Wesleyan was picked fourth in the ECC Preseason Coaches' Poll after going 11-9-1 in 2019 and senior Dylan Ruiz was tabbed Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Ruiz has a team-high seven goals on the year and two game-winning goals and sophomore Tamas Nagy has a goal and two assists. Senior Alex Perez has also scored a goal and junior Jared Gibbons is 2-4 in goal with 21 saves and a .656 save percentage.
Next Game
Mercy resumes action on Wednesday, September 29th when they host Bridgeport at 3 p.m.
