DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's soccer team saw its modest two-game winning streak halted today after falling to host Mercy College in both teams' first East Coast Conference contest of the season held at Mercy Field.

With the loss, Daemen falls to 2-5-1 overall this season.  The Wildcats entered the game riding a two-game winning streak with non-conference defeats of Washington Adventist University and Lincoln University last weekend.  Mercy, the defending ECC Tournament champions who made their second-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament last season, improved to 3-1-1 overall with today's win.

The Mavericks didn't take long to get on the board, getting a goal from Jessica DeLeon at the 5:22 mark of the opening frame.  DeLeon, who earned All-ECC honors last season after leading Mercy with 24 points, took a crossing feed from freshman Lauren Calderaro and sent a deep shot from outside the box to the back of the net for her first marker of the season.  

Later in the period, Mercy would go ahead by two at the 21:24 mark when Savannah Campana beat the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation after taking a feed from Alyssa Iannuzzi.

That was all the breathing room that Mercy would need.  Nicole Augustine made four saves to pick up her second shutout of the season, albeit with Daemen putting on the pressure in the second half.  Daemen launched seven of its nine total shot attempts, and generated all four of its corner kick opportunities in the second half.

Stephanie Zurales (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) had an opportunity early in the second frame to cut the deficit in half, but Augustine was up to the challenge at the 48:32 mark.  Zurales would generate two more scoring opportunities later in the period, only to be thwarted, once by Augustine and once by a Mercy defender as the Mavericks were credited with a team save.

Freshman goalkeeper Meaghan O'Leary (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) made five saves for the Wildcats, but took the loss in her first-ever ECC contest between the pipes.

Today's result marked Mercy's third-straight win in the all-time series which began in 2013 when Daemen joined the ECC.

Next up for Daemen is a Sunday matinee tilt with Saint Thomas Aquinas College.  The Wildcats and Spartans kickoff at noon in Sparkill, N.Y. with both teams looking to estalbish an edge in the all-time series which is knotted at 1-1-1.  Check out the full game preview for Sunday's ECC clash, and for continuing coverage on the Daemen College women's soccer team throughout the season, follow @DaemenWSOC and @DaemenAthletics on Twitter.