After the schedules were released in December, Mercer men and women’s lacrosse teams are suiting up for a new season in February.
Men’s lacrosse
The schedule for men’s lacrosse has many matches on the road for the Bears in 13 regular season contests. These include eight road games, two neutral site games and three home games. Mercer men’s lacrosse Head Coach Ryan Danehy says the Bears will have to be “road warriors” this upcoming season.
“2025 is an incredibly unique scheduling year," Danehy said. "Because of the Atlantic Sun Conference's new six-team slate, we were able to add a significant amount of new out-of-conference opponents (Marist, Drexel, St. John's, St. Bonaventure) and renew old rivalries (VMI).”
Danehy, starting his third season at the head of the program, has led the Bears to a 10-20 record since taking over the reins in August 2022. Against conference opponents, though, Mercer has gone 8-10 in the last two seasons.
Since last season ended, some players on the team have received accolades and moved on to greener pastures, namely Taylor Dooley ‘24, who was drafted in the first round of the National Lacrosse League Draft in September. Additionally, Dillon Bush ‘27 was named to the A-Sun All Freshman team after he scored 16 goals and recorded four assists in his first collegiate season.
The Bears opens their season with a trip to Virginia for a match against Hampton University today, and they will play their first game at home in Five Star Stadium two weeks from now, on Saturday, Feb. 15 against Virginia Military Institute.
Their first conference game will take place March 6, against St. Bonaventure University in New York. Following two non-conference games, Mercer will finish the season with five A-Sun opponents to determine their place in the postseason tournament.
Women’s lacrosse
After coming off a third-straight Big South championship, women’s lacrosse will play nine home games in their 17-game regular season. The Bears will face many strong opponents outside of their conference, including teams from the ACC, Big 12 and AAC.
The program is led by Head Coach Samantha Eustace, who is going into her ninth year at the helm. Under Eustace, the Bears have not had a losing season since 2021, and the team has lost a regular season game to a conference opponent since April 23, 2022.
The team, which was named preseason favorites to win the Big South Conference, had three players named to the Preseason All-Conference Team: Caroline Glus ‘26, Abby Soltys ‘25 and Ansley Walters ‘27.
Walters was named Preseason Midfielder of the Year while Soltys was named Preseason Defensive Player of the Year for Mercer.
Mercer will open its season against the University of South Florida at home on Feb. 11 before taking a trip to Virginia to play Virginia Tech for the first away game on Feb. 15.
In March, the Bears will travel west to Tempe, Arizona to play a pair of Big 12 teams including Arizona State University on March 2 and a neutral site game against the University of California, Davis on March 7. Mercer will host the University of Florida a week later. The Gators finished last season ranked No. 7 in the country, according to NCAA rankings.
The Bears will start their back-to-back-to-back defense of the Big South championship against Wofford College on March 29, and finish the regular season on April 26 at Longwood University.
Pariss Nicholson ‘26 is majoring in Journalism and minoring in Media Studies at Mercer University. She hopes to report or write for ESPN after she graduates. Outside of her studies, she likes to read and watch sports games in her room.
