DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Nov. 4, 2023) – Despite three Mavericks scoring, the No. 2 seeded Mercy University men's soccer team dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 3 seeded Queens College in an ECC Men's Soccer Championship Semifinal matchup on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
In a ceremony prior to the game, Eduardo Costa (Sao Joao da Madeira, Portugal/Sacred Heart University) was awarded the ECC Elite 20 Award for men's soccer for having the highest grade point average out of all student-athletes participating in the ECC Men's Soccer Championship. Costa is a graduate student who has compiled a perfect 4.0 GPA as a business administration/sport management major.
The Mavericks (9-4-5) fall to the Knights (10-7-2) for the first time since 2015 and will now await a possible NCAA Tournament berth. Queens advances to the Final for the first time in program history and will host No. 4 seed District of Columbia on Saturday, November 11th.
Mercy was led by sophomore Jorgen Krohn-Pettersen (Stavanger, Norway/Spring Hill College) who recorded his third goal of the season, by junior Martin Penafiel (Santiago, Chile/Colegio del Verbo Divino) who produced his first goal of the season and by sophomore Johannes Hanken Tjostheim (Aalesund, Norway/Spring Hill College) who picked up his team-leading 13th goal of the season. Sophomores Mathias Schilbred-Eriksen (Bergen, Norway/Tertnes Videregaende Skole) and Mateo Bacigalupo (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Colegio Cardenal Newman) dished out assists and junior Eirik Elvestad (Oslo, Norway/Blindern VGS) made a season-high eight saves to take the loss.
Queens was led by Andrew Johnston who scored a game-high two goals. Austin Matthews made two saves to earn the win.
Elvestad made two saves to open the first half before Andreas Charalambous found the back of the net in the 33rd minute, following an Adolfo Martinez Paquet free kick, to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. Queens headed into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
Mercy wasted little time in tying the game as Krohn-Pettersen headed in a Schilbred-Eriksen corner kick to tie the game at 1-1 in the 48th minute. Penafiel made it 2-1 in the 49th minute when he connected on a penalty kick after senior Carlos Fernandes (Lisbon, Portugal/Spring Hill College) drew a foul in the box.
The Mavericks increased the lead to 3-1 in the 58th minute when Bacigalupo sent a cross from right to left to Hanken Tjostheim who found the right corner of the goal to give Mercy a two-goal lead.
Queens inched closer with a goal in the 71st minute when Johnson scored his first goal to make it 3-2. Johnson added his second goal on a breakaway to tie the game at 3-3 in the 74th minute.
Elvestad made four more saves to keep the game tied and the game headed into the final minute of play tied at 3-3. Overtime looked like a certainty, but Tommy Gunn deflected in a Martinez Paquet shot attempt with eight seconds left to give the Knights a late 4-3 lead. Queens held the Mavericks scoreless for the final eight seconds to secure the win.
Queens held a 16-13 edge in shots and a 12-5 edge in shots on goal. Queens also held a 7-5 edge in corner kicks.
