Men's Soccer Clinches SoCon Regular Season Crown

For the first time since 2014, the Mercer men’s soccer team won the Southern Conference regular season championship.

For Mercer, who is now 5-0 in conference action for the first time in school history, the title means a crucial first-place seed in November’s tournament.

The title came after a hard fought road victory over the Furman Paladins on Tuesday.

It was the Bears who struck first in the match on a penalty kick goal from Roberto Arteaga in the match’s 38th minute.

The two teams exchanged shots without anyone else scoring before going into half-time.

The second half started off with a game changing moment. Both Mercer and Furman were penalized with a double red-card, resulting in the teams losing one player each from play.

Only 10 minutes later in the match, the Paladins evened the score at 1-1 in the 51st minute.

The next 40 minutes of the match were filled with close misses, with neither team able to take the lead, resulting in the game going into overtime.

The first overtime was deadlocked with neither team able to take advantage of good looks at goals. However, the double-overtime was a different story.

In the match’s 103rd minute, Mercer’s Trevor Martineau capitalized on a beautiful assist from Leo Toledo Jr., netting a header goal to give the Bears the victory.

The win gives the Bears their fourth overall Southern Conference title and second regular season championship crown.

The men’s soccer team is now 12-2-2 this season. You can catch them back in action for their final regular season game at Betts Field versus East Tennessee State this Saturday at 7 p.m.