Box Score  

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Danny Leon Jr. scored 42 seconds into overtime to give the Mercy College men's soccer team a 1-0 win over Southern Connecticut State University on Saturday evening. 

It was the season opener for the Owls, while Mercy improved to 2-0.

The first half saw Owls' midfielder Ross McGibney (Dublin, Ireland) have a few outstanding scoring opportunities.  In the 22nd minute, the senior co-captain headed a cross from sophomore Mads Larsen (Trondheim, Norway) over the net.  A few minutes later, McGibney's strike  went wide of the goal from about 10 yards out.  The best chance for SCSU was in the 25th minute when a free kick deflected off a host of Mercy defenders and rolled just wide of the post.

Late in the first half it appeared that the Mavericks got on the scoreboard when a shot went past Sasso.  However, a Mercy player was offsides and the goal was disallowed.

Although the match was scoreless at the break, Southern had numerous positives for the first 45 minutes.  SCSU held advantages in shots (11-2), shots on goal (5-1) and corners (3-1).

In the second half, the Mavericks began to control play a bit and started to get some shots off.  Although the majority of them missed the cage, the Mavericks had some outstanding opportunities.   In the 59th minute, Southern goalkeeper Stephen Sasso (Orange, Conn) had to gobble up a Chuong Tran shot taken from inside the box.  Then with 3:28 left in the match, Sasso made diving save on a Leon Jr. shot ticketed for the lower corner.  With less than a minute left in regulation, Mercy forward Ransmond Aboagye dribbled through the Owls' defense toward goal.  Sasso and the Owls defense combined to deflect the ball wide.

Sasso finished with five saves.  His counterpart, Nick Papas had six.

The Owls open the Northeast-10 conference portion of their schedule a week from tonight, when they travel to Bentley University.  The match will commence at 1 p.m.