The leaves are starting to change here in Westchester, which means another quest to the East Coast Conference championship game has begun for Mercy men’s soccer. The Mavs have been rolling out of the gate, rattling off victories against Saint Rose, Southern Connecticut State, D’Youville, and Queens to hold a 4-1-3 record thus far.
Mercy currently sits in first place in the ECC standings at 2-0-1.
A new hindsight has surfaced for this team in 2023. Winning a conference title will do that. A season ago, the Mavericks’ preseason goal was to get back to the ECC tournament after missing out in 2021. The Mavs not only accomplished that feat; they sat atop the mountain with the championship hardware in their laps by the season’s end.
Climbing that mountain isn’t the objective anymore for this year’s squad. It’s about defending their spot on the peak. A team that knows how it feels to hunt, is now the hunted. An indirect compliment towards the historically successful program.
Mercy has been led on offense by their three-headed monster at forward, featuring senior Carlos Fernandes, sophomore Mateo Bacigalupo, and sophomore Johannes Hanken Tjostheim. The trio already has seven or more points each in the early stage of their campaign. This unit is amongst the strongest of this Maverick team.
Fernandes is off to a blazing start in his second year with the Mavs. The Portugal native was a solid contributor on last year’s championship team, but has elevated his game to another level in his senior year. Fernandes’ nine points (3G, 3A) at the halfway mark of the season has already doubled his total output of points from 2022 (4). He’s been a much needed boost for this Mercy team.
The Mavs have a special duo of sophomore forwards on their hands. This off-season, head coach Pedro Velasquez went into the transfer portal and grabbed a gem in Johannes Hanken Tjostheim from Division II Spring Hill College. A talented Norway product, Johannes notched 10 goals as a freshman in south Alabama, and has paired nicely with Bacigalupo on Mercy’s attack line.
Hanken Tjostheim (3G, 1A) and Bacigalupo (2G, 3A) each have seven points already in 2023.
Mercy has had some fantastic goaltenders defending the net in years past, and it doesn’t look like that’s changing any time soon. Eirik Elvestad, last season’s ECC Goalkeeper of the Year and First Team ECC selectee, is already off to a stellar start to his second season as Mercy’s starter. The ball stopping junior from Norway leads the ECC in goals against (6) and goals against average (0.75). The key to winning games in November comes down to having solid goalie play, and luckily the Mavs have a superstar at the position.
The battle for the driver’s seat in the ECC takes place this Saturday as the Mavs travel to Roberts Wesleyan to conclude a four conference game stretch. The Redhawks are 3-3-3 on the season, but currently own an identical conference record as Mercy, making the winner of this game the first place team by the end of September.
A win on Saturday would flex some muscle over the rest of the conference if the Mavericks can pull it off. It would conclude a 3-0-1 record over their last four ECC games, with all three victories having been away from Mercy Field. Exactly the swagger this team wants to have heading into the back half of the year.
This is a must get for Pedro Velasquez and the defending champs this weekend.
