Women's Soccer Wins SoCon Championship

Sunday, November 9

1 pm

Mercer University

14-5-2

Samford

14-8

Team	1	2	Final F
Mercer	0	2	2
Samford	0	1	1

11/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The third-seeded Mercer women's soccer team upset top-seeded Samford, 2-1, on Sunday to win the Southern Conference Championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Bears also placed four members on the SoCon All-Tournament Team, including the Most Outstanding Player, Maggie Cropp. Washida Blackman, Rachel Buffalo and Tess Patton were also named to the All-Tournament Team for Mercer.

The Bears improved to 14-5-2 overall, setting a new program record for most wins in a season. This will mark Mercer's second trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history; Mercer also won an automatic bid in 2010.

After a scoreless first half, Tess Patton sent a penalty kick to the back of the net to put Mercer up 1-0 in the 48th minute.

Samford (14-8) knotted the score, 1-1, in the 59th minute when Jermaine Seoposenwe scored off a penalty kick of her own.

With time winding down and the intensity of the match continuing to increase, it looked as if the game was poised to go to overtime. However, in the 88th minute, Washida Blackman headed the ball off a corner kick and sent it towards the bottom left corner of the goal. The shot was blocked, but in an attempt to clear the ball from the goal line, a Samford defender knocked it in the goal instead, putting Mercer up 2-1.

The Bulldogs had a chance to tie the game less than a minute later, but Cropp tallied her sixth save of the afternoon to keep the Bears on top.

Mercer outshot Samford, 16-14, and won the corner kick battle, 8-5. In goal, Cropp made a total of six saves, including five in the second half.

The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Selection Announcement will take place on Monday, Nov. 10, at 4:30 p.m. The announcement will be streamed live and can be watched here: http://on.ncaa.com/14WCCSelecSh.

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.