DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Nov. 10, 2024) – Despite a goal from junior Mateo Bacigalupo (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Colegio Cardenal Newman), off an assist from junior Hugo Martin (Malaga, Spain/Rogers State University), the No. 2 seeded Mercy University men's soccer team dropped a hard-fought 2-1 decision to No. 6 seeded University of the District of Columbia in an ECC Men's Soccer Championship Semifinal on Sunday afternoon at Mercy Field.

The Mavericks (9-3-5) fall in the Semifinals for the second straight year, while the Firebirds (7-7-4) advance to the Final for the second straight year. Mercy will now await a possible NCAA Tournament berth.

Mercy was led by Bacigalupo who scored his fifth goal of the season and by Martin who dished out his second assist of the year. Senior Simon Steffensen (Aalborg, Denmark/Aalborghus Gymnasium) made the start in net and allowed two goals to take the loss.

UDC was led by George Shaw and Ignacio Lopez who both scored. Giovanni Llamas made a game-high 11 saves to earn the win.

Mercy forced Llamas to make five saves in the first half but were unable to score. The Firebirds took a 1-0 lead in the final seconds of the first half when Shaw headed in a Lopez corner kick to give UDC a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Llamas made a save early in the second half before Bacigalupo received a through ball from Martin and fired the ball into the net, tying the game at 1-1 in the 52nd minute.

The score remained 1-1 until the 60th minute when Lopez connected on a penalty kick after a Mercy foul in the box, giving UDC a 2-1 lead.

Llamas stopped five more shots and a Firebird defender also stopped a shot to prevent the Mavericks from tying the game, giving UDC the 2-1 win.

Mercy held a 23-6 edge in shots and a 13-2 edge in shots on goal. Mercy held a 6-5 edge in corner kicks.