NEWARK, Del. (Sept. 3, 2022) – Powered by a game-high two goals from graduate student Nikki Bermudez (Oceanside, N.Y./New York Tech), the RV Mercy College women's soccer team earned a 5-1 victory over Wilmington University on Saturday afternoon at the WU Athletics Complex.
The Mavericks (2-1) have won two games in a row and have won four of their last five meetings against the Wildcats (0-3-1).
Bermudez now has three goals on the season and junior Kayla Camacho (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream) also scored her third goal of the year. Graduate student Claudia McKail (Santa Clarita, Calif./Canyon) recorded her first goal of the season and had an assist. Junior Toni Valadez (Westminster, Calif./Pacifica) netted her first collegiate goal and graduate student Sydney Cooper (Long Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos), junior Madison Rosa (Dublin, Calif./Dublin), and freshman Ancksu Dixon (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport) dished out assists. Freshman Kamy Anaya (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly) made one save to earn the win.
Wilmington was led by Rockesha Dayes who had a goal. Mio Nakajima made five saves to take the loss.
The opening half saw Jennifer Silva (Jurupa Valley, Calif./Jurupa Valley) record a shot on goal in the 10th minute with Nakajima making the save. Anaya came up with a big save in the 30th minute when she stopped an Emilie Larsen breakaway attempt to keep the game scoreless. Dixon forced Nakajima to make another save in the 32nd minute.
The score stayed 0-0 heading late into the first half when a McKail shot was blocked and found its way to Bermudez, who fired the ball from the left side into the back of the net to give Mercy a 1-0 lead with 12 seconds left in the half. The Mavericks went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
Mercy increased the score to 2-0 in the 50th minute when Bermudez scored off a penalty kick following a Wilmington foul in the box. Camacho later scored her third goal of the season in the 56th minute, following a cross from Rosa, to make it 3-0.
McKail increased the Mavericks lead to 4-0 in the 75th minute when she fired a shot from outside the box into the upper right corner of the net, off a pass from Cooper. Wilmington ended the Mavericks shutout bid with a Dayes goal in the 83rd minute to make it 4-1.
Valadez put the finishing touches on the win with a header goal, following a Dixon corner kick, to give Mercy a 5-1 lead with 45 seconds left. The Mavericks cruised the rest of the way to earn their second straight win.
Mercy held an 18-3 edge in shots and a 10-2 edge in shots on goal. The Mavericks held a 19-0 edge in corner kicks.
Head Coach Danny Leon Jr. and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, September 6th when they host Adelphi at 3 p.m.
