It’s been a week full of highs for the Mercy women’s soccer team. The defending ECC champions collected back-to-back conference wins against Queens and Staten Island, and Jack Nicholson shed his interim tag becoming Mercy’s full-time head coach.
The Mavs defeated Queens last weekend, 1-0, to pick up their first win in conference play of the year. Sophomore Maleah Tarin scored a goal off a pass from senior Marlene Avalos 21 minutes in to give Mercy the early lead, leaving the Maverick defense to clean up the rest. Kamy Anaya, last season’s ECC Goalkeeper of the Year a year, notched her second shutout of the season making two saves in the contest.
Mercy was shortly back in action for a duel with Staten Island on Wednesday, which resulted in a nail-biting Maverick victory, 2-1. Madi Rosa opened up the scoring with her second goal of the season in the sixtieth minute, but the Dolphins would respond with a goal of their own tying the game just eight minutes later.
Jack Nicholson’s team didn’t flinch, answering with the game-winning goal off a boot by Maleah Tarin three minutes after the Dolphins tied it. Tarin’s team leading third goal of the season couldn’t have struck at a better time.
There’s much to credit Nicholson for in his first month leading the women’s soccer program. A former assistant for the men’s and women’s teams over the last four seasons, Nicholson was officially promoted to the Maverick’s permanent head coach on Thursday. He was also named the Assistant Athletic Director to Student Services in the process by VP of Athletics, Matt Kilcullen, showing just how much he is valued at Mercy.
Taking over a winning program may seem easy from afar, but with loftier standards and expectations comes increased pressure, and Jack Nicholson has handled it soundly this far.
Mercy holds a 3-2-2 record into the month of September, with a chance to grab one more victory against Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday. The Mavs are currently in a three way tie for first place in the conference with Roberts and Molloy, each with a 2-0-1 record in ECC play, setting this weekend’s contest as a battle for the top spot.
The Mavericks will need an offensive spark to pull out a win in Rochester. Mercy faced offensive struggles when they squared off with Roberts Wesleyan last year, a game that resulted in a scoreless tie. Redhawks goalkeeper Nicolette Knauf leads the conference in goals against average (0.77) and anchors a defensive unit that’s allowed one or fewer goals in seven of their eight games this season.
A strength here for Mercy has been their spread in production. Five different Mavs have scored goals already, with another five accounting for an assist on the year. It could be a multitude of players that can strike on the offense, which makes them a rather difficult team to prepare for as the opposition.
Tarin leads the team with three goals and six points, but has also had help from forwards Madi Rosa, Ancksu Dixon, Angelina Ortiz, and Amiah Washington. All have multiple points in the first half of the season and will be key focal points in this one. Ortiz, the freshman, has been impressive in her first seven games in Westchester, already scoring her first collegiate goal on just two total attempts.
With a new coach, the Mavs can string together a third straight win before taking on St. Thomas Aquinas next week.
