DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's soccer team dropped its 2015 East Coast Conference opener today, falling on the road to Mercy College, 3-1, in an afternoon affair held at Mercy Field.

The loss drops Daemen to 2-5-1 overall this season.  With the win, Mercy improves to 3-4-0 overall while picking up its first league victory of the season, against one defeat.

Juan Gatti put the hosts ahead, 1-0, with his second goal of the season at the 10:44 mark of the opening period.  Freshman Lucca Lacerda, who entered the game with a team-leading five points for the Mavericks, sent a through-ball which found Gatti who finished the play.

Shortly thereafter, Lacerda picked up his second assist of the game when the rebound of his initial shot was put home by Junior Sanguina at the 15:13 mark.

Daemen would strike back at the 17:33 mark when junior Alex Reid (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) netted his second tally of the season.  Sophomore midfielder Logan Podrebarac (Burlington, Ont./Tiffin University) sent a through-ball from well before the midfield stripe which Reid turned into a breakaway opportunity.  He beat Mercy goalkeeper Julio Sanchez with a shot that cut the deficit in half with more than 70 minutes to play.

But, Mercy would push the lead back to two when Haxhi Verjoni scored at the 30:09 mark.  

Daemen would go on to generate three shots on goal in the second half, two off the foot of freshman Kyle Tracy (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse), but Sanchez was up to task, turning away all three attempts to keep the Mavericks comfortably ahead by two until the final horn sounded.

Freshman goalkeeper Justin Figler (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) made four saves for Daemen in his ECC debut.

Reid's goal, the 11th of his career, gives him two markers in the Wildcats' last three games.  With two goals on the season, he's now tied with Tracy for the team lead, while also leading the squad in total points with five.

Head coach Dan Dolan and the Wildcats will look to regroup in preparation for Sunday's ECC clash at Saint Thomas Aquinas College which gets underway at 3 p.m. in Sparkill, N.Y.  Check out a full Wildcats-Spartans game preview and  for continuing coverage of the Daemen men's soccer team throughout the season, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenMSOC on Twitter.