FLUSHING, N.Y. – With a trip to their first-ever East Coast Conference Finals on the line, the #2 seed Queens College men's soccer welcomed the #3 seed Mavericks of Mercy College to Flushing in Semi-Final action at QC Soccer Field. 
 
Hosting their first postseason game in program history, the Knights tallied the first shot of the game but junior Nicholas Tagios's (East Williston, N.Y.) header deflected off the right woodwork just 61 seconds into the game as Queens looked to take an early lead. 
 
The Mavericks would respond in the ninth minute of play but senior goalie Dario Giovanni Cruz (Guadalajara, México) was more than up to the task with a timely save. 
 
In the 28^th minute, freshman Finlay Armond's (Sleaford, England) shot stayed out top left. 

With Mercy on the counterattack, the visitors would open the scoring in the 38^th minute of play to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Looking to respond, Queens would get called for an offside 41 seconds into resumption as they went into halftime trailing 1-0. The Mavericks outshot the Knights 5-2 with Cruz making two saves. 
 
Playing from behind and looking to tie the game, Queens would respond just 1:39 seconds into the second half. Tagios's long throw would find the header of senior defender Thomas Esperoe (Bomlo, Norway) who found the foot of sophomore Jose Mendez (Queens, N.Y.) as the Queens native delivered the game-tying goal with a strike into the top left corner. 

With the momentum and the home crowd behind them, Queens stayed as the aggressors as they looked for the lead. Tagios would put a shot on goal in the 48^th minute but a timely save by the Mavericks goalie would keep the game tied at 1-1.
 
After Cruz denied the Mavericks offense on the opposite end in the 55^th minute, junior Leo Pinto (Forest Hill, N.Y.) shot on goal on the counterattack would be stopped by the Mavericks goalie. 
 
With Queens starting to maintain the possession and the more threatening team, the Knights continued their relentless attack on the offensive end. 
 
After a foul by the Mavericks gave the Knights a free kick, Armond's shot on goal would be denied in the 69^th minute before Mendez's shot on goal was swallowed by the Mavericks goalie in the 70^th minute. 
 
After a yellow card on the Mavericks gave the Knights a free kick in their attacking half in the 79^th minute, the Knights tallied a barrage of shots as Tagios shot was denied with a timely save by the Mavericks goalie. Sophomore Adolfo Martinez Paquet's (Sevilla, Spain) shot would get blocked before sophomore Angel Leon Zavala (Wyandanch, N.Y.) put away the second rebound shot in the 80^th minute to give Queens a 2-1 lead to set off the Knights into pandemonium.    
Having battled back from a 1-0 deficit with a strong second half, Queens were 10 minutes away from their first-ever conference finals appearance in program history. 
 

With the Mavericks playing from behind for the first time, the Knights had the momentum as they looked to put the game away. A shot by freshman Oscar Garces (Centereach, N.Y.) went wide in the 84^th minute before Pinto's shot in the 86^th minute sailed top left as they search for their third goal of the second half.
 
But the Mavericks would not go away without a fight as they knotted the game 2-2 in the 89^th minute to force overtime.

For the second straight postseason game, the Knights were headed into overtime since the 2018 season when they played LIU Post. With the new NCAA rules and no golden goal set into place this season, both overtimes would have to be played giving the Knights the chance to come back into the game with 20 extra minutes to play. 

But 1:31 seconds into the first overtime, the Mavericks were awarded a penalty kick setting off shock waves around QC Soccer Field. Despite Cruz guessing correctly, the Mavericks would just sneak the game-winning goal into the right corner for a 3-2 lead. 

In the 94^th minute, Paquet's shot sailed left as the Mavericks continued to hold onto a slim 3-2 lead. 
 
In the 98^th minute, Cruz would deny the Mavericks a fourth goal with a timely save as the game went into the second overtime. 
 
With the season on the line and Queens needing to respond, It was the Mavericks who controlled the game in the first five minutes of the second overtime. 
 
After a shot by the Mavericks went wide in the 103^rd minute, Tagios on the counterattack shot went out left in the 106^th minute. 
 
Once again Cruz would keep the game at 3-2 in the 109^th minute. But with less than one minute remaining, freshman David Oprea's (Oslo, Norway) shot would get deflected with 29 seconds left giving the Knights one last throw-in to save their season. 
 
Looking to deliver as he did in the second half, Tagios lined up for the long throw but the Mavericks would make a timely grab of the long throw as the visitors held on for a 3-2 victory leaving the Knights dejected. 
 
Match Highlights

• Mendez and Zavala notched the first collegiate goals of their career. 
• Tagios and senior Thomas Esperoe (Bomlo, Norway) earned an assist on Mendez's game-tying goal. 
• In goal, Cruz made six saves on the evening.
• The Knights outshot the Mavericks 17-15, while the visitors led a 9-7 shots on goal margin.  

With the loss, the Knights moved to 13-6 overall on the season but will learn with fate in the upcoming days if the historic 2022 season continues.
 
In the latest NCAA Super-Region 1 Poll released on Wednesday (Nov. 2) afternoon, head coach Frank Vertullo and the Knights find themselves ranked #6 as they look to earn their first NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament appearance. The selection show will air Monday (Nov. 7) evening. 
 
The show air on www.ncaa.org. More details to soon.
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