Bears soccer continues to be poised, hungry

On Oct. 19 the men’s soccer team tied the game against USC Upstate followed by a win on Oct. 22 against East Tennessee State. They followed these performances with another tie against Lipscomb on Oct. 27. This brings the team’s record to 7-6-3. Mercer’s next match is an away game against Duke University to complete their regular season. The first round of the A-Sun Tournament begins on Nov. 9. The Bears are 2-3-2 in conference play this year.
The scoreless home game against USC Upstate went into double overtime with a total of 110 minutes of game time. Even with a season high of 23 shots overall, the Bears were unable to get a goal in the net. Another season high for the game went to goal keeper Greg Ranhitsingh who made six saves.
On senior night, the Bears played a home game against ETSU that resulted in a 1-0 win for Mercer. It brought them to a tie at seventh place with ETSU in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The goal of the match was scored in the 79th minute by midfielder Carl-Oscar Andersson. Congratulations to the freshman midfielder for having scored his first goal of the season. His assist came from a pass by Matt Brazer.
Mercer’s second tie game was 1-1 road game against Lipscomb. Like the first game, this went into overtime with 110 minutes of total game time. One key difference is that Mercer was a man down. The first goal was scored by the opposing team in the 25th minute of the match. The rest of the first half stayed scoreless, but things turned around at the start of the second half when Ehjayson Henry sent a header to Ryan King who tied the game for the Bears with a shot past the goal keeper. In the 87th minute of the match, Josh Shutter received his second yellow card leaving the Bears a man down for the rest of the match.
Midfield player Will Betts leads the squad with five goals and two assists. He is followed by Josh Shutter and Ehjayson Henry with three goals.
As a team, the Bears outshine their opponent’s combined goals and shots. Mercer has outscored opponents 20-17. They have also outshot them 210-193. The majority of both goals and shots have been achieved in the second half of the games.
With 14 goals and 107 shots in their second half of games, Mercer shows that they are poised and hungry late in the match.
The first round of the Atlantic Sun Tournament will be held at Bear Field on Nov. 9. The semis and championships resume on Sunday, Nov. 13.