Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. – Powered by a career-high four goals from junior Maximiliano Rebolledo-Camus (Santiago, Chile/Saint George's College), the No. 1 seeded Mercy College men's soccer team earned a 5-2 victory over No. 4 seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College in an ECC Championship Semifinal matchup on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (12-2-1) have won four games in a row and will host No. 2 seed LIU Post in the Championship Game on Saturday, November 3rd at 1 p.m. Mercy will appear in the ECC Championship Game for the first time since 2004 when the conference was known as the NYCAC. The Spartans (10-6-1) end their season with three straight losses.
Rebolledo-Camus scored his four goals on six shots on goal and now has a team-high 11 goals. Junior Manuel Achondo (Santiago, Chile/Colegio Del Verbo Divino) also scored and dished out an assist. Junior Ignacio Mangada (Alicante, Spain/Campbellsville University) recorded an assist and sophomore Jordan Williams (Newton, N.J./North Carolina Wesleyan College) made four saves to earn the win.
St. Thomas Aquinas was led by Luis Morales who had a goal and an assist and Alejandro Camejo recorded a goal. Jack Nicholson made four saves to take the loss.
The teams both recorded two shots on goal in the first 12 minutes of action that were stopped by Williams and Nicholson to keep the game scoreless. Nicholson made another save in the 16th minute, but Rebolledo-Camus got the Mavericks on the board in the 19th minute to make it 1-0. The junior made his way down the left side of the field and fired the ball into the lower right.
Williams stopped his third shot of the day in the 21st minute and Rebolledo-Camus tacked on another goal in the 29th minute to give Mercy a 2-0 lead. The junior received a cross from Achondo and place the ball into the lower right. The score remained 2-0 heading into halftime with Mercy holding a 9-7 edge in shots.
The Spartans got on the board just 25 seconds into the second half when Morales scored on a penalty kick following a Mercy foul in the box that made it 2-1. Camejo later made it 2-2 in the 53rd minute when he headed the ball into the net after a Morales free kick.
The Mavericks quickly answered in the 58th minute when Achondo scored on a free kick just outside the box to put Mercy up 3-2. Rebolledo-Camus tacked on two more goals in the 68th and 85th minutes to cap off the win for the Mavericks, sending Mercy into the ECC Championship Game.
Mercy held a 20-10 edge in shots and a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Head Coach Pedro Velazquez and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, November 3rd when they host LIU Post in the ECC Championship Game at 1 p.m.
Provided by Mercy College Sports Information department.
