Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. – Powered by a penalty kick save from freshman Kamy Anaya (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly) and the winning penalty kick from freshman Ancksu Dixon (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport), the No. 1 seeded Mercy College women's soccer team and the No. 2 seeded Molloy University played to a 0-0 draw with the Mavericks winning in penalty kicks, 5-4, in the ECC Women's Soccer Championship Final on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (13-2-2) win their third ECC Championship and first since 2017. Mercy earns the East Coast Conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and will await their seed on Monday night. The Lions (12-4-3) fail to win their third straight ECC Championship. Anaya was named the ECC Championship's Most Outstanding Player.
Junior Jennifer Silva (Jurupa Valley, Calif./Jurupa Valley) had a game-high four shots on goal and Dixon had a game-high five shots. Anaya did not face a shot on goal to earn her eighth shutout of the season.
Molloy was led by Shannon Kilian who made a game-high 10 saves.
Kilian made three saves in the first half to keep the game scoreless at halftime.
Kilian stopped five more shots to open the second half. Mercy had great scoring chances in the 71st and 72nd minutes when shots by Dixon and Emma Best (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) were stopped by Molloy defenders, a Dixon shot hit the crossbar and a Silva shot was stopped by Kilian. The game remained scoreless after regulation, sending the game into overtime.
Neither team recorded a shot on goal in the first overtime and the game went to the second overtime scoreless.
Kilian stopped a Silva shot in the 101st minute, but the game stayed scoreless, sending the contest into penalty kicks.
Molloy made their first penalty kick and graduate student Nikki Bermudez (Oceanside, N.Y./New York Tech) connected on hers to make it 1-1. Sarah Tappeto and Silva both made each team's second attempt to bring the score to 2-2. Anaya then stopped a Lexi Verni attempt and junior Madison Rosa (Dublin, Calif./Dublin) scored on her attempt to give Mercy a 3-2 lead. Molloy tied it at 3-3 before junior Marlene Avalos (San Diego, Calif./Otay Ranch) put Mercy ahead 4-3 with her make. Eleni Sofroniou netted her goal to make it 4-4 before Dixon stepped up and delivered the game-winning penalty kick to give Mercy the 5-4 win penalty kicks and their third ECC Championship.
Mercy held a 17-3 edge in shots and a 12-0 edge in shots on goal. Mercy held an 8-3 edge in corner kicks.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.
