Mercer University
Central Ark.
Mercer Bounces Back with 1-0 Win over Central Arkansas
10/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's soccer team showed its resolve after two tough overtime losses in a row with a dominant performance in a 1-0 win over Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon at Bear Field.
Mercer (6-6-1) entered Saturday afternoon's match coming off the heels of back-to-back overtime losses to Atlantic Sun Conference foes, but rebounded in a big way against Central Arkansas (1-7-3) to improve its non-conference record to 5-3-1 for the season.
The Bears wasted no time getting on the board first, in just the fifth minute of the contest, when junior Will Betts collected a pass from freshman Carl-Oscar Andersson in the box and hammered home his shot to give the home team an early 1-0 lead. The goal for Betts is his team leading fifth of the season.
The rest of the first half was mostly back-and-forth pitting Mercer with a 1-0 lead going into intermission.
The second half featured multiple scoring chances for both squads, including three hit posts for Mercer.
Central Arkansas' best scoring opportunity came in the 78th minute when junior Chris Deaville collected a loose ball and ripped a shot that freshman Greg Ranjitsingh made a kick save on to keep Mercer in front.
The Orange and Black had a chance to put the game out of reach in the 87th minute when junior Joey Heavner took a touch on the ball and ripped a shot off the far post and back into play.
Ranjitsingh made three saves in the win to record his fifth shutout of the season while UCA goalkeeper Paxti Shortsleeve made eight saves in the loss.
Mercer returns to A-Sun Conference play on Wednesday evening when it welcomes USC Upstate to Bear Field. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be Coaches vs. Cancer night.
