West Chester, Pa. - Junior Nicole Augustine (Kingston, N.Y./ Kingston) made five saves, as #2 seed Mercy College women's soccer team faced the top-seeded Golden Knights of the College of Saint Rose in the NCAA East Region Final on the campus of West Chester University.
The Golden Knights improve to 20-1-2 with the 3-0 victory, while the Mavericks finish 2014 season at 17-3-1.
The Mavericks arrived in the Philadelphia suburb late on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, Head Coach Jonathan Feinstein had a final practice and walkthrough, before hitting a local steakhouse for a team dinner. On Friday, the Mavericks had a nice continental breakfast the hotel, before heading to Rockwell field to watch the Atlantic Region Final, won by the host Golden Rams, 1-0
A sunny, but very cold afternoon set the stage for a rematch of the Sept. 9th contest, which the Golden Knights won 2-1 in double overtime
The first 20 minutes saw Saint Rose take five straight corner kicks, but the Mercy defense held strong as the Golden Knights didn't get a shot off.
Augustine was put to work early, as she made two saves on the first two shots taken by the Golden Knights.
Despite getting injured in the ECC championship semifinal, captain and senior Abby Zielinski (Lancaster, Pa. / George Mason Univ.) subbed in for fellow classmate Danielle Deeb (San Diego, Calif. / Miramar College) in the 31st minute. Immediately after Zielinski's substitution, Carmelina Puopolo ripped a shot that clanged off the post.
Saint Rose would light up the scoreboard first in the 41st minute, as All-American Jourdan Thompson scored a goal off a corner kick taken by Jennifer Busk. The Golden Knights held a 1-0 lead at the break.
In the second half, the Golden Knights netted two insurance goals to cruise to the 3-0 victory. Junior Jessica DeLeon (Phoenix, Ariz. / Paradise Valley CC) and senior Jenna Petel (Cypress, Calif. / Santiago Canyon College) had the best looks of the half, but couldn't find the back of the net.
The Golden Knights will advance to the Super Regional to face West Chester University on Sunday.
The 2014 squad made history in multiple ways. They won a program record 17 games, captured the school's first ECC championship, earned a hosting bid in the east region of the NCAA tournament and reached the East Region final. Six Players were named to the All-ECC first and second teams, freshman Samantha Scovel (La Mirada, Calif. / La Mirada) earned Rookie of the Year Honors and coach Feinstein became the first coach in conference history to be named ECC Coach of the Year back-to-back.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.
