Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. – Powered by goals from sophomore Kayla Camacho (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream) and senior Claudia McKail (Santa Clarita, Calif./Canyon), the No. 2 seeded Mercy College women's soccer team earned a 2-0 win over No. 3 seeded Daemen College in an East Coast Conference (ECC) Women's Soccer Championship Semifinal game on Thursday afternoon at Mercy Field.
In a ceremony prior to the game, Camacho was presented with the ECC Elite 19 Award for women's soccer. The award is given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA who is participating in the championship.
The Mavericks (10-3-4) have won four games in a row and advance to the Final for the first time since 2017. Mercy will play the winner of Molloy/Roberts Wesleyan in the Final on Sunday, November 14th. The Wildcats (9-6-1) drop both meetings to Mercy this season.
Camacho recorded her fourth goal of the season and McKail netted her fifth goal of the season. Sophomore Marlene Avalos (San Diego, Calif./Otay Ranch) added an assist and senior Melissa Torres (La Mirada, Calif./La Mirada) made one save to earn the shutout win.
Daemen was led by Sam Hanes who had a shot on goal and by Tori DeLappi who had six saves to take the loss.
Camacho and Avalos forced DeLappi to make a pair of saves in the first two minutes of action. DeLappi made three more saves in the opening half to keep the game scoreless at halftime. The Mavericks defense held the Wildcats without a shot in the first half.
The Mavericks broke the scoreless tie in the 58th minute when Camacho took a cross from Avalos and fired a shot from the left side just over DeLappi's hands to give Mercy a 1-0 lead.
Torres made a stop on a Hanes shot following a Daemen free kick in the 60th minute to keep Mercy in the lead.
McKail gave Mercy the insurance goal they were looking for when she drilled a free-kick from 30 yards out into the top left corner of the net to give Mercy a 2-0 lead in the 85th minute.
Mercy held on for the win, limiting Daemen to just two shots the entire game.
The Mavericks held an 11-2 edge in shots and a 7-1 edge in corner kicks.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.
