(Riverdale, NY) – Junior Chris Herrera (Queens, NY/St. Francis Prep) scored his first hat trick of the

Chris Herrera recorded his first hat-trick of the 2005 season

2005 s eason, and freshman Chris Dotorotos (Bronx, NY/Salesian HS) scored twice as the Mount Saint Vincent Men's Soccer team won its Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference (HVMAC) opener, 5-3 over Cooper Union in a game played at Mount Saint Vincent. The win was the third straight for the Mount, who has not lost a game since breaking a five-game winless streak more than a week ago, and Dolphins are now 6-7-1 overall.

Herrera, who now leads Mount Saint Vincent with six goals and 13 points, brought the Mount back from a 1-0 deficit to tie the game in the 22nd minute when he scored a beautiful goal off of a pass by Garrett Cooke (Kingston, RI/Bishop Hendricken HS). After Dotorotos scored his first of the game off of an assist by Stephen Ampuero (Mamaroneck, NY/Rye Brook HS) one minute later, Herrera found the back of the net again just seconds before halftime to make it a 3-1 Dolphin lead.

Cooper Union (2-1-1, 1-1-1 HVMAC), however, would not go away. CU scored in the 60th minute to make it a 3-2 game, and after Dotorotos scored his second goal of the game seven minutes later, Cooper once again made it a game with a breakaway goal in the 82nd minute. That's when Herrera stepped in to put the game away in the 87th minute, when he created a turnover, turned, and fired his third goal of the game for the 5-3 final score.

Mount Saint Vincent dominated the game statistically, outshooting Cooper Union 37-15 and maintaining possession for a majority of play. However, Cooper Union's dangerous transition game was evident throughout the 90 minutes as they scored all three goals in unsettled situations off of transition play.

Also starring for the Mount was Ampuero, who on his senior day had his first two assists of the season, and freshman goalie William Raftery (Bronx, NY/Salesian HS), who earned his second win of the season with five saves.

Mount Saint Vincent is in the midst of a full weekend as they have games every day. Tomorrow, the Mount travels to Webb for a 2:00 p.m. HVMAC contest. On Sunday at noon, the Dolphins host HVMAC foe, the Culinary Institute of America. The weekend will finish the HVMAC slate for the Mount and determine Mount Saint Vincent's seeding in next weekend's playoffs.