AMHERST, N.Y. - Nationally-ranked Mercy College escaped with a 3-1 victory over Daemen College here today in East Coast Conference men's soccer action. Mercy remained unbeaten on the year (7-0-1) and improved to 2-0-0 in the ECC, while Daemen dropped to 0-7-0 overall and 0-2-0 in the league. Daemen held a 1-0 lead at halftime and the game was tied 1-1 until Mercy struck for two goals in the span of seven minutes with less than 20 minutes to play in regulation time. Mercy was picked first in the ECC preseason poll and is currently ranked ninth nationally and second in the East Region by the United Soccer Coaches.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Daemen made the most of its only shot of the first half, as freshman Chris Cox (Buffalo, N.Y.) scored his first career goal with 9:55 left before halftime to make it 1-0 Daemen. The ball bounced around in the Mercy box following a Daemen corner kick and it eventually landed on the foot of Cox on the right side. Cox eluded Mercy net minder Joel Serrano and sent a low shot into the open net.
- The Wildcats maintained the lead until the 54th minute when the Mavericks evened the score following a goal by redshirt freshman Steven Fernandez. Junior Nigel Hawthorne created the scoring chance when he eluded two Daemen defenders and sent a cross to the front of the Daemen net from the left corner. Fernandez headed home the cross for his second goal of the season.
- The Mavericks broke the scoreless tie in the 71st minute off a corner kick by senior Gaston Rozenblum. Rozenblum's corner sailed past the Daemen net, where junior Franciso Ricci headed it back to the front the Daemen goal. Senior Santiago Corral was in perfect position to head the ball home for his fourth goal of the year.
- Mercy secured the win with 11:32 to play when sophomore Archie Jones scored his first goal of the season off a feed from senior Ignacio Mangada.
- Mercy posted a 16-1 edge in shots in the first half and finished with a 29-2 advantage overall.
- Sophomore Eithan Hahn (Lancaster, N.Y.) went the distance in net for Daemen and made a career-high 10 saves. Serrano did not register a save for Mercy.
HEAD COACH BEDIAKO SWAN POST-GAME COMMENTS
"We put up a good fight, and moving forward that is the standard that we have to set for ourselves. We need to play with that intensity and togetherness every game."
GAME NOTES
- The game marked the first of three-straight home games for Daemen.
- Daemen returns 11 players from last years team that finished 5-12-0 overall and 3-6-0 in the East Coast Conference. The Wildcats were picked eighth in the ECC preseason poll.
- Mercy returns several key players from last year's team that posted a 13-4-1 record, claimed a share of the ECC regular-season title and made its first appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament appearance since 1989.
- Daemen remained winless in the all-time series with Mercy. The Mavericks have now prevailed in all seven meetings between the two schools.
- Daemen returns to action Thursday (Oct. 3) when it hosts Salem University in a non-conference game. It will mark the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Daemen College features the only NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
