Mercer University
Samford
Resilient Bears Claw Back For 2-2 Tie
8/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Preseason Atlantic Sun all-conference selection junior Olivia Tucker capped an amazing two-goal comeback on Friday night by scoring in the second half's final minute to push the Samford Bulldogs to overtime and an eventual 2-2 tie.
The Bears came out a little slow in the first half and Samford quickly took advantage, jumping out to a 2-0 lead. However, things would settle down as Mercer was able to maintain its poise and scored two late second half goals to move its early season record to 1-0-1.
"I was very disappointed with our performance in the first half," head coach Grant Serafy said. "Samford is always a tough, well-coached team and they came out and outpaced us and outworked us in the first half."
Tucker's goal came off a header she delivered into the corner of the net off of a crossing pass from freshman Casey Barrett with less than a minute remaining in the game. It was the junior's first goal of the season and 19th of her career. With the score, she is now in sole possession of eighth place all-time for goals scored at Mercer.
The Bears got behind in the game's 31st minute as the Bulldogs were able to slip a ball past the MU defense from 40 yards out. The pass was gathered and put away by Samford's Katie Proud (her first goal of the season).
Just three minutes later, Samford extended its lead to 2-0 when Brittany Hoffman took a clean shot off of a crossing pass from the right side of the field. Samford held the 17-8 overall advantage in total shots, but only had one more shot on goal than the Bears in the 110 minutes of play.
Serafy began the second half with a slight personnel change that seemed to pick up the pace for the Bears as the game progressed. Junior defender Jessie Kupstas began the segment on the bench, but was implemented in the 60th minute, replacing freshman forward Nadja Kolliesuah. The move paid dividends, as the Kupstas would add the game-changing goal just nine minutes later.
Kupstas was able to take a Samford turnover just past the midline and fired a shot from 40 yards out over the keepers head. The goal was the Suwanee, Ga. native's first of the season and brought the Bears back within one with over 20 minutes left in the second half. After that point, Tucker's goal would prove to be the last of the game as the teams went scoreless in the two overtimes.
"I thought we made some strategic moves there in the second half that kind of got us going," Serafy said. "Jessie's goal certainly got us back into the game and then Olivia did what she does and that is make plays at key moments."
Mercer will continue the current road trip and head to Atlanta for a Sunday afternoon matchup with Georgia State at 1 p.m.
"We have just got to be able to recover fast," Serafy said. "It was a tough pysical game tonight and we will just have to focus and make sure we are ready for Sunday."
