A-Sun

Women’s soccer claims second in A-Sun

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Published Oct 24, in Soccer, Sports

In the last four games of the season, the Mercer women’s soccer team has won three of those matches, claimed a first-round bye in the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament, and broken a program record for wins in a season with 12 on the year. It is no doubt that head coach Tony Economopoulos has had a successful debut season for the Bears, and he looks to continue that success going into the conference tournament.
On Oct. 12 the women’s soccer team took on the Dolphins from Jacksonville University. The first half of play saw both teams go back and forth. Neither side was able to break through and get the important first goal, although Mercer did have the best chance of the half.
In the 20th minute, sophomore Tess Patton took a shot that hit off the far post and back into play to keep the game level.
The Orange and Black would not waste any time coming out of the halftime break and jumped in front of the Dolphins in the early moments of the second half. Sophomore Lauren Gassie cut inside on the left edge of the 18-yard box and hit a shot that was saved by Jacksonville’s goalkeeper Jill D’Amico. However, the rebound went right to sophomore forward Washida Blackman who drilled a shot into the back of the net to give Mercer a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute.
This was all the Bears needed to claim the victory over their competitors and with this win they clinched a spot in the conference tournament.
“We had a game plan coming in of how we wanted to play against this team because they played a different formation,” said Economopoulos. “We came out and we executed well. We dominated the game statistically, we created quite a few chances, and we knew coming in that if we got a result tonight we would clinch a spot in the postseason,” added Economopoulos.
The next game for the Orange and Black was against North Florida. It was the team’s last home game of the season, so in tradition they honored the seniors who have served this team for four years. Seniors P.A Upson and Danielle Hesse were both recognized prior to the match.
The team helped send out their two seniors in resounding fashion as they claimed a rousing 3-0 victory.
The Bears scored their first goal just 52 seconds into the match. Sophomore Tess Patton collected a loose ball in the UNF box, pushed through two Osprey defenders, and drilled a shot past the UNF keeper to put Mercer ahead.
Patton did not rest on her laurels though as she scored her second goal of the game in the 19th minute. Junior forward Nadja Kolliesuah dribbled past her defender on the right side of the field and sent in a cross to Patton. Patton settled the ball and volleyed it into the back of the net putting the Bears up 2-0.
Mercer earned their third goal just seven minutes later. Sophomore Lauren Gassie sent in a corner kick that found the head of junior transfer Devon Fry to put the team up 3-0.
Mercer held the 3-0 advantage going into halftime and was not able to put in any more goals in the second half. Although the Bears slowed down offensively in the second half, their defense remained strong and was able to keep a clean sheet.
Head coach Economopoulos and his squad then traveled to Deland, Fla. to take on the Hatters of Stetson University. The Bears scored a goal in each half to secure the 2-0 win and a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
“We knew coming [in] that it was going to be a tough environment and they were playing very relaxed,” said Economopoulos. “We knew we had struggled against them in recent years in the regular season, but I challenged my seniors to go out and win and we were able to get the result, so I am very happy.”
The Bears netted their first goal in the 28th minute of the match. Senior Danielle Hesse collected a pass from Washida Blackman and put the ball in the back of the net from eight yards out.
The team would not score again in the first half, but found the net in the second.
Junior Casey Barrett put the game out of reach. Tess Patton sent in a free kick that ricocheted off of the Stetson goalkeeper. The rebound found Barrett in the box and she put it away for her third goal of the season.
The Bears were now in a perfect position. With a win or tie against their next opponents, the Bears would secure the first regular season title since 2008. The team looked to exact revenge as they lost to the same team they would be playing for the regular season conference championship that they played against in the previous season in the conference tournament.
Unfortunately, the Orange and Black could not find the net and lost the match to a talented squad from Florida Gulf Coast University.
“It was a great battle between the two top teams in the conference,” said Economopoulos. “It could have gone either way, but you have to give them credit. They are a great team.”
With the loss the Bears gave up tournament hosting rights to the Eagles of FGCU. After a bye in the first round, the team will hit the field in Ft. Myers, Fla. on Nov. 2 for the semi-finals.

A-Sun coverage: Lipscomb defeats Lady Bucs

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Published Mar 2, in Sports, W. Basketball

At the half, Lipscomb lead 35 to 33 off of scrappy and aggressivedefense.

The Lady Bisons set the tempo for most of the half. ETSU wouldn’t go away, and the number one overall seed in the women’s bracket led 41 to 40 before a three from the Bisons had ETSU forced
to play some tough defense to keep a major upset from happening.

With fifteen minutes left to play, Lipscomb stuck in it and refused to give up, with the lead going back and forth.

The Bisons’ traveling fans were loud and continued to spur the team on to major success, despite ETSU living off of bad shots and turnovers.

With nine minutes gone, the Buccaneers were controlling the boards as well, and they took a 53-46 lead. This spurred their traveling pep band to begin to drown out everyone, as the 12-3 run put the Lady Bucs in charge.

The major problem developing was ETSU’s propensity to foul, as they neared the double bonus. Lipscomb began to miss free throws late though, along with a slew of turnovers.

Despite the slowly growing lead for the Lady Bucs (eight points with eight minutes left), they were not able to effectively close the door. This was aggravated by a full court press from the Lady Bisons. A layup from Hannah Phillips kept them in it, but ETSU’s up tempo defense was too much, and the Lady Bucs led by eleven points with 3:52 left, at which point they put Lipscomb into the double bonus.

With 90 seconds left, Lipscomb pulled within seven.

However, behind Gwen Robinson’s career high 24 points and Lipscomb’s poor defense, ETSU led by five with a minute left. A flurry of threes from Lipscomb made it interesting late, led by Hannah Phillips.

But the No. 1 ETSU Lady Bucs won 83-75 to advance to the next round. This was their eleventh straight victory against the Lady Bisons. Tara Davis added 23 points and four assists. Lipscomb’s ten three point field goals was their sixth game like that this year, led by Jenna Bartsokas with eighteen points and five 3′s. ETSU will play the winner of North Florida and Jacksonville.

Tough loss against Belmont, thriller versus Lipscomb

Mercer basketball heads into A-Sun tournament with fifth seed

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Published Mar 2, in Breaking, M. Basketball, News, Sports

(Alex Lockwood / Cluster Staff) Mercer's Langston Hall drives toward the basket in recent hoop action in the University Center.

Battling the two of the top teams in the conference, Mercer’s men’s basketball team held their own against a pair of tough conference opponents from Nashville, Belmont and Lipscomb, to close out the 2010-11 regular season. Going 1-1 in their final two games at home, the Bears solidified their 5th seed in the Atlantic Sun postseason tournament in Macon.

Belmont 75, Mercer 64
The hottest team in all of mid-major college basketball stunned a large crowd in the University Center, handling the Bears in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Mercer led early, with a seven point halftime lead, but a surging Bruins’ offense opened leads as large as 24 points in the second half, dooming Mercer’s upset bid for the night.

Brian Mills (15 points, eight rebounds) would lead the scoring for Mercer on a night where they sank 42.6% of their shots from the field. Teammate Justin Cecil chipped in 11 points while role player Jake Gollon would add nine points in limited action. Belmont’s team-centered approach would see 11 different players score during the course of the game, led by Kerron Johnson’s 12 points.

“(Belmont) Coach Byrd did a good job tonight,” said Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman following the game on MercerBears.com. “We took away a few things, but we didn’t take away enough. We also didn’t get to the free throw line as much in the second half and that was a big issue for us,” he added.

“I thought we kind of lost our energy for a spell and they just kept coming at us,” said Hoffman.

Mercer 68, Lipscomb 67
The Bears won a last-second thriller in a game that ultimately didn’t matter in terms of seeding, knocking off the visiting Bison when point guard Josh Slater’s shot didn’t fall through the hoop. With Mercer’s seniors being honored at halftime, the Bears came out to a vocal crowd with a full student section and nearly full arena.

As expected, both teams made runs throughout the game with six ties and ten lead changes throughout the course of the contest. Neither team was able to mount much of a lead during the contest, but it was a key three-pointer by Jake Gollon that gave the Bears a four point cushion with only 22 seconds remaining. A Lipscomb bucket from Josh Slater cut the lead to one point and then a pair of missed free-throws from Mark Hall gave LU a chance to win the game at the final buzzer.

Driving the length of the court, Slater’s last chance shot bounced twice around the rim before falling short to bring the crowd to their feet in the final regular season game of the season.

Brian Mills would lead Mercer’s offensive charge with 20 points while freshman Bud Thomas would add 10 points. The Bison’s Josh Slater (23 points) and Adnan Hodzic (17 points) were a dangerous pair on the night, but fell just short in their late rally.

Mercer and Lipscomb will take on each other in the first round of the Atlantic Sun tournament on Thursday night at 9pm.

The Inside Zone

Zach Wells discusses the changing tide for Bears basketball, and what it means to him personally

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Published Mar 1, in Columns, Sports, The INside Zone

When my mother told me that I was going to have a little brother as a four year-old, I shrugged and said, “good for you.”  I was home educated through high school, and when Emoly West (the only home schooled girl in Oklahoma who did not have unsightly moles or a clubbed foot) asked me to go to the home school prom with her, I pursed my lips and said, “if that’s what you really want.”

When I received a full scholarship to play college basketball, my father beamed with pride, my mother cried for joy, and I took a nap.  I’m not one to get overly excited about anything.  This run that the 2010-11 Mercer Men’s Basketball Team is on, however, has me jumping into walls, crying tears of joy, and running down busy streets screaming at the top of my lungs.  What the heck is going on with this team?

If you didn’t already know, the Bears have won nine of their last eleven games and are now 10-7 in the ASUN conference.  This means that at one time we had a dismal one win and five losses in conference.  There was a time this season when it appeared doubtful whether we would make our own conference tournament, which will be held here in Macon.  This would have been the equivalent of planning a house party, inviting all of your friends, paying for the food and entertainment, getting a flat tire on your way home from work, arriving late to your own party, none of your friends having shown up, and all of your enemies having come uninvited and ate all of your food while tearing your house apart.  Demoralizing is the word.  We were demoralized at one point this season. But then something happened, something changed.

Right around the middle of January, this team came together in ways that I couldn’t have predicted.  Suddenly, everyone had everyone else’s back.  All the negativity disappeared.  A team who’s defense had been porous all season, became stingy, regularly holding teams to under 65 total points.  A team who had trouble doing the little things, like boxing out for rebounds and not turning the ball over, began taking care of the ball as if it was a dollar bill in Brian Mills wallet.  A team that lacked for leadership suddenly recognized Brian Mills as THE MAN, and began going through him on every offensive possession.  A team that had been described as “soft” and “not tough enough,” suddenly became more leathery than Charlie Sheen’s liver.  What could have caused such a drastic change for this team?

I have given this more thought over the past couple of weeks than Einstein gave to the theory of relativity, and I believe I’ve reached a similar result.  Some might say that Coach Hoffman deserves all of the credit, which is a valid point. But I have been at nearly every practice this year and coach Hoffman has been coaching the same way over the past four weeks as he has all season.  Some might say that our team chaplain, Jon Howard, has prayed some of his best prayers of the season over the last few weeks, securing God’s providential good-will and giving us wins.  I strongly believe, however, that God cares very little about who wins or loses a basketball game (there are Christians on the other team who also pray). Some say the players deserve all of the credit, but these are the same players (with a few exceptions) who have been playing all year–something motivated them to change their approach.

There is only one man who can be given full credit for the turnaround of the Mercer Bears season.  There has been one, and only one, major change within the Mercer Basketball program over the last few weeks.  In fact, I can point to a single date, which took this season and turned it on its head.

On January 13th, Ernest John Kusnyer came back to Macon, GA.  “I was doing well overseas in Holland, making loads of untaxed cash.  But money means nothing to me. When I saw my Mercer Bears were struggling I had to come back and help.”  Kusnyer, the Mercer three point legend, was speaking to me as we sat in the cafeteria on campus. He was stuffing his face with his third chocolate chip cookie in less than five minutes.  “Yeah I’ve helped the team come together and make a great run, but I don’t see myself as some kind of hero.  I just did what needed to be done and the results are what they are.  I just let it ride, that’s what I do.”

When I asked “Kush” what he had actually done to help the team, bringing up that some questioned whether or not he really did anything at all (other than mooch of the Mercer athletics program), he got a little bit defensive.  “Of course you’re going to have people say those kind of things.  When you bring this type of success to a program, people are going to be jealous and try to bring you down.” Yes, but what does E.J. actually do for the Mercer Bears?  “My methods aren’t what’s important. I have the ASUN record for threes in a season, this team obviously respects that fact.  They don’t want to let me down.”

Not everyone agrees with this theory. When I texted John Howard about E.J.’s part in the Bears success, he texted me this message back, “E.J. is always thinking about E.J., there are other people who should be getting the credit.”  When I asked Brian Mills how E.J. had helped him since he’s been back, Mills replied, “Is he helping out with the team?  I thought he was just taking classes and working for the U.C.”

The results, however, cannot be argued with. Since E.J. Kusnyer has arrived back in Macon, the Mercer Bears have been hotter than the latest Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Nine out of eleven speaks for itself, and if you don’t want to listen to that, you can listen to E.J. “Sometimes you just have to do something selfless.  I love these guys, I just had to come help them out. You know what their three-point percentage was before I came back?”  I shook my head.  “Yeah, you don’t want to know.”

Men’s, Women’s Tennis Updates: 3/1

Mixed starts for Bears tennis teams in 2011

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Published Mar 1, in Sports

Both the Men’s and Women’s Tennis Teams have had mixed starts to their 2011 seasons, with Mercer’s men at 2-3 through February 19 and Mercer’s women at 2-2 through February 20. Despite the tough starts to the season, the Bears have performed well at home as of late, including a combined 14-0 sweep of Young Harris by both the men and women’s teams.

Men’s Tennis: 2-3, 0-0 Atlantic Sun

Georgia State 5, Mercer 2.

Mercer lost the four, five, and six spots in singles play in straight sets to drop the match in Atlanta against in-state rival Georgia State. Fernando Armendaris pushed his opponent to an extra set, but he also dropped his singles match. Pierre Tefelski and Peter Tauchner each won their singles match in extra sets. Mercer also dropped the doubles point.  Armendaris and Evandro Rosindo won the sole match for Mercer in the doubles two spot, but Guilherme Frias and Dave Barton pushed their opponent to the brink before losing 8-6. Mercer was down 5-0 before they picked up a point on the day, mainly because of the the strong finishes by Tauchner and Tefelski.

Mercer 7, Georgia Southwestern 0.

Straight set victories all around were the norm, as Mercer rebounded from their tough loss to a dominant win over Georgia Southwestern. Tefelski and Tauchner each went to 2-0 on the day in singles play, and Armendaris and Rosindo went to 2-0 in doubles play.  This was the home opener for the Bears, and it saw Rosindo, Frias, and Barton all rebound from difficult matchups in Atlanta.

Coastal Carolina 5, Mercer 2.

Mercer battled Coastal Carolina at home, only to see similar results as the Georgia State matchup.  Despite close matches in double play, only Frias and Barton were able to win their match, giving Coastal Carolina the doubles point.  Frias and Barton were also the only two Bears to win their singles points, in the five and six position.  All matches lost were in straight sets, but no Bear was held scoreless in any set.

Florida A&M 4, Mercer 3.

Pierre Tefelski and Guilherme Frias each went to 3-1 in singles play on the year, and Fernando Armendaris added another point for the Bears, but an extra set loss by Dave Barton (combined with straight sets losses by the two and four positions left the match to be decided by the doubles point.  Unfortunately, despite strong efforts, the Bears were letdown, being swept in that category.  Tefelski and Peter Tauchner were the closest, but it was not the Bears’ day against the Florida A&M Rattlers in Tallahassee.

Mercer 7, Young Harris 0.

Tefelski and Frias now each sit at 4-1 in singles play on the season, as Mercer brought the heat at home versus Young Harris.  The shutout victory saw Elbert Beekman in his debut for Mercer tennis.  Beekman won his singles matchup 6-0, 6-0.  Mercer also swept the doubles point, not leaving anything to chance.

The Bears are starting to find rhythm this season, challenging tough opponents in non-conference play.  With the emergence of Beekman as a reliable alternative, the Bears also have depth on their bench.  They have non-conference matchups with Jacksonville State and Georgia Southern before starting Atlantic Sun play in Nashville against Lipscomb and Belmont.

Women’s Tennis: 2-2, 0-0 Atlantic Sun.

Georgia State 6, Mercer 1.

Mercer’s women opened their season against in-state rival Georgia State as well, and their 6-1 loss was punctuated with several straight sets losses in singles play.  Lucie Payrat picked up the lone Mercer point on the day, after winning 11-9 in the third and final set.  State proved to be much more experienced and better than the Bears, who look to play their way into the conference tournament again.

Florida A&M 6, Mercer 1.

Jennifer Lada won her singles matchup at the one position in straight sets, but it would prove to be the only good news on the day. Mercer had to default their sixth position, having just five players able to make the trip to Tallahassee. Amanda Bertoni pushed her opponent to an extra set, but it would not be a victory for the Bears. Jennifer Lada and Aurelie de Montjou won their doubles match 8-4, but having to default cost them a chance to win the doubles point

Mercer 7, Young Harris 0.

The Bears devastated Young Harris, in a game that saw former Bear Kelly Blount return to Mercer.  Amalia Bugge and Lucie Payrat won their matches in straight sets, and the Bears saw Lada and Payrat each climb to 2-1 on the year.  Lada and Montjou also went to 2-1 in doubles play this season.  The complete shutout victory was a good turnaround from tough losses against Georgia State and Florida A&M.

Mercer 7, Savannah State 0.

The next day, Mercer continued their home dominance, keeping a 14-0 shutout going with the seven-to-nothing victory of Savannah State.  Only Savannah State’s Diskristjansdottir was able to win a game in singles play, with every player losing in straight shutout sets.  Lada and Payrat are now each 3-1 in singles play on the year.  The same goes for doubles play, as the visitors could not manage to win a single game, losing all three doubles matches 8-0.  Lada and Montjou improved their record to 3-1 on the season in doubles play.

The women have home matches against Jacksonville State and Chattanooga remaining before going on the road to Lipscomb and Belmont to start the season.  They will have to overcome the lack of a bench in order to achieve a spot in the Atlantic Sun tournament.