Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. – Powered by two penalty kick saves from senior Ashley Price (Goodyear, Ariz./Millennium) and the game-winning penalty kick from senior Heidi Serna (West Covina, Calif./South Hills), the Mercy College women's soccer team advanced to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in school history on Sunday after defeating West Chester University in penalty kicks by a margin of 4-3 at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (18-3-1) will take on Central Missouri in a National Semifinal matchup on November 30th at a time to be announced. The Golden Rams (17-3-3) end their season as Atlantic Region champions.
Mercy received a goal from sophomore Natalia Elizarraras (Whittier, Calif./Los Altos) and an assist from junior Haley Nobel (Torrance, Calif./Torrance), while freshman Melissa Torres (La Mirada, Calif./La Mirada) made four saves.
Kaitlyn McNamara scored a penalty kick goal for West Chester and McKenna Mullin made four saves.
The Mavericks started the contest off as the aggressors as sophomore Ally Boots (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza) forced Mullin to make a save just 13 seconds in. Mercy broke through with the game's first goal in the 6th minute when Noble played a high cross in front of the net that was finished off by Elizarraras to put the Mavericks up 1-0.
It remained 1-0 heading into halftime despite both teams having quality scoring opportunities in the frame. West Chester held a 5-4 edge in shots in the opening half.
The second half saw the Mavericks force Mullin to make another save, but the score remained 1-0 in favor of Mercy. It remained 1-0 until the 82nd minute when after a Mercy foul in the box McNamara connected on a penalty kick to tie the game up at 1-1.
The Mavericks followed with quality scoring chances in the final two minutes of the game as Noble hit the crossbar and Boots sent one high. However, the score stayed 1-1 and the two teams headed into overtime.
The first overtime period saw sophomore Jessica Brandt (Folsom, Calif./Folsom) and Elizarraras both have early scoring chances but the score stayed tied. Julia Kirkpatrick had a shot hit the crossbar for West Chester but neither team was able to score so a second overtime period was needed.
Redshirt junior Ileen Mejia (Whittier, Calif./La Mirada) hit the crossbar in the second overtime and Brandt forced Mullin to make a save but both teams were unable to score in the overtime period so penalty kicks were needed.
Both teams switched goalies to start the penalty kicks with Price going for Mercy and Brooke Myers taking the net for West Chester. Nikki Caffey started things off with a made penalty kick for West Chester, which was followed by a Boots make. Hannah Grandell and Elizarraras both connected to make it 2-2 and McNamara and Brandt both made their shots to bring the score to 3-3. Price then stepped up and stopped Mandy McCarthy's shot and Serna followed with a make to put Mercy up 4-3. Price went on to end the game with a stop of Shannon Cooley's shot to send Mercy into the Final Four.
Mercy held a 14-11 edge in shots and corner kicks were tied at 3-3.
Head Coach Jonathan Feinstein and the Mavericks will take on Central Missouri in a National Semifinal on November 30th in Kansas City, Missouri.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.
