Women's Soccer Cruises Past Chattanooga, 8-1

Friday, October 24

7 pm

Mercer University

11-4-2, 6-0-2SoCon

Chattanooga

1-15-1, 0-8-0SoCon

Team	1	2	Final F
Mercer	3	5	8
Chattanooga	0	1	1

10/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Mercer women's soccer team rolled past Chattanooga, 8-1, on Friday night at Finley Stadium.

The Bears improved to 11-4-2 overall and 6-0-2 in Southern Conference play to reclaim the top spot in the standings. The Mocs moved to 1-15-1 on the season and 0-8 in league action.

"It's great to be back on top of the table after tonight's win," said Head Coach Tony Economopoulos. "We knew it would be a challenging game against a tough Chattanooga team. It was great to see everyone play tonight and it truly was a team victory. We're happy that we've put ourselves in a position to clinch our first SoCon Championship on Sunday against Samford."

Mercer took an early 1-0 lead when Washida Blackman found the back of the goal just 3:12 into the game. Blackman was assisted by Maddie Clark, who put the Bears up 2-0 in the 10th minute after getting the ball from Sarah Daane on a free kick and sending it into the goal. Mercer took a 3-0 lead when Brianna Stampler scored in the 27th minute; Stampler was assisted by Daane.

The Bears started the second half just as dominant, and went up 4-0 when Sydney Brogden scored in the 54th minute off a deflected ball. The Mocs scored their only goal of the game and moved the score to 4-1 in the 56th minute off a free kick from the right side.

Lauren Gassie scored two goals in 58 seconds to increase Mercer's advantage to 6-1 in the 72nd minute. Gassie's first goal was unassisted to the top right corner of the net and Stephanie Giangiuli assisted on the second goal.

Kim Murphy stretched the Bears' lead to 7-1 in the 77th minute and again to 8-1 in the 86th minute. Murphy was assisted by Valeria Bermeo on the first goal and MacKenzie Stewart on the second.

As a team, Mercer outshot Chattanooga, 26-10, including 15-2 in the first half. The Bears also controlled the corner kick count, 6-3.

Both Maggie Cropp and Cristina Mursuli saw time between the pipes, with Cropp playing the first half and Mursuli on the field in the second. Mursuli made both of Mercer's saves.

The Bears will conclude regular season play on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT in Birmingham, Ala., when Mercer takes on Samford.

For all the latest information on Mercer women's soccer, please visit MercerBears.com or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow Mercer soccer on Twitter at @MercerWSoccer or www.twitter.com/MercerWSoccer.