DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. — A goal by junior Gaston Rozenblum (Buenos Aires, Argentina) just four minutes into the first overtime period lifted the Mercy College men's soccer team to a 3-2 victory over Daemen College here today in East Coast Conference action.
Mercy, which is ranked 25th nationally and third in the East region by the Uniter Soccer Coaches, improved to 6-1-1 overall and 3-1-0 in the ECC. Daemen dropped to 4-6-0 overall and 2-2-0 in the league. The Wildcats were looking for their first-ever victory over a nationally-ranked team since ascending to NCAA Division II status in 2013.
It marked the second time this season Daemen has suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss to one of the top teams in the region. Back on Sept. 8 the Wildcats were close to earning a tie at Le Moyne College, but the host Dolphins scored with just 4:44 left in the second overtime to secure the win. Le Moyne has been ranked in the East region poll all season and was No. 22 in last week's Division II national poll.
Mercy came out strong this afternoon and struck for two goals in the first 12 minutes of the game. Junior Maximiliano Rebolledo-Camus (Santiago, Chile) opened the scoring at 6:30 off a nice lead pass from sophomore Nigel Hawthorne (Queens, N.Y.). The hosts doubled their lead five minutes later after senior Mariglen Verjoni (Cornwall, N.Y.) netted his first goal of the season. Rozenblum sent a pass to the center of the field from the left flank, and junior Ignacio Mangada (Alicante, Spain) one-timed Rozenblum's pass back to Verjoni who blasted a shot into the upper left corner from 20 yards out.
Daemen's first shot on goal at 16:35 cut the lead in half. The ball found its way to the feet of sophomore Finn Krueger (Neuried, Germany) following a restart near midfield, and Krueger sent a short pass to classmate Niklas Ringdahl Bohlin (Fjaras, Sweden) who rocketed a shot home from 25 yards out. It marked his team-leading third goal of the year.
The score remained 2-1 until midway through the second half when the Wildcats took advantage of a Mercy turnover. Sophomore Aiden Tolley (Pittsford, N.Y.) sent a pass to the center of the field from the left flank, and a clearing attempt by a Mercy defender went right to the the foot of freshman Pascal Kuhn (Emmendingen, Germany). Kuhn sent a shot into the upper right corner of the net from 25 yards out for his first career goal.
Mercy's game-winner came following a corner kick. The low corner was deflected to Rozenblum, and his hard shot from 20 yards out defected off a Daemen defender and past Daemen net minder Philipp Schmidt (Larh, Germany). It marked the first goal of the year for Rozenblum.
Schmidt went the distance in net for the Wildcats and made six saves. It marked the fourth time this season he has made five or more saves in a game. Sophomore Jordan Williams (Newton, N.J.) stopped two shots for the Mavericks, who posted a 23-7 edge in shots and an 8-1 edge in corner kicks.
Daemen returns to action Saturday (Oct. 6) when it travels to the University of Bridgeport for an ECC game.
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