Mercer University
Samford
Women's Soccer Advances to SoCon Final on Penalty Kicks
11/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
GREENVILLE, S.C. – After 110 minutes of play, the Mercer women's soccer team advanced to the Southern Conference Tournament championship match with a 4-3 advantage in penalty kicks over Samford. The fourth-seeded Bears and No. 1 Bulldogs ended the game with a 1-1 tie, but Mercer's performance in the penalty shootout pushed the Bears on to their second straight SoCon Tournament finals.
TURNING POINT
After a scoreless first half, Samford took a 1-0 lead in the 49th minute when Taylor Borman crossed the ball to Malcanisha Kelley, who headed the ball to the right corner of the net. Valeria Bermeo put Mercer on the board when she scored her third goal of the season in the 73rd minute with a powerful shot to the far left side of the net. Bermeo knotted the score, 1-1, and the teams played scoreless for another 37 minutes, sending the game to penalty kicks.
Samford switched goalies for the penalty kicks, as Katie Peters took her place between the posts. Maddie Clark scored Mercer's first PK and Maggie Cropp made a save as the Bears took a 1-0 advantage in the shootout. Sarah Daane's shot went in the goal, as did the next Samford attempt, before Katelyn Dimopoulos' attempt was saved and another Samford attempt found the back of the net, tying the PKs at 2-2. Corinne Wooten and Haleigh Svede each found the back of the net with their shots, as did the fourth Samford player, but the Bulldogs' final attempt hit the left post, as Mercer advanced with the 4-3 advantage.
WOMAN OF THE MATCH
Maggie Cropp made six saves in goal for the Bears and also notched a save during the penalty shootout to help Mercer advance to the SoCon Tournament championship match.
STAT OF THE GAME
Samford led in shots, 16-12, as well as shots on goal, 7-4.
NOTABLES
- Valeria Bermeo registered her third goal of the season, as well as the third score of her career. The sophomore has scored two goals against SoCon opponents this year, both of which came in Mercer's ties versus league foes. Bermeo also scored in Mercer's 1-1 draw against ETSU on Oct. 9.
- Bermeo and Haleigh Svede led the Bears with three shots each, and Bermeo also tallied a team-high three shots on goal.
- Alexius Hill also recorded a pair of shots, while Maddie Clark, Katelyn Dimopoulos and Corinne Wooten logged a shot apiece.
- Samford also led Mercer in corner kicks, 8-5.
- Mercer advances to the Southern Conference Tournament game for the second straight season. In 2014, Mercer fell to Samford, 1-0, in the regular season before notching a 2-1 win in the tournament finals over the regular season champions to win the tournament and earn an NCAA Tournament bid.
- As the game is officially marked as a tie, Mercer is now 4-0-1 in Southern Conference Tournament games, remaining undefeated in its two years in the league.
QUOTABLES
"First off, our hearts and thoughts go out to Coach Yelton and his family. We knew it was going to be a tough game and Samford was playing for a lot more than just soccer. We challenged the players to come out tonight and match Samford's intensity. It was a great first half, back and forth. Credit to Samford, they came out in the second half and got one by us for a great goal. I was proud of our team for never giving up, being resilient and getting an equalizer. It was a back and forth game from there on out, and once you go into a shootout, it could go either way. I'm proud of our players for putting our chances away and proud of Maggie for making the save. We're moving on to Sunday, which was our goal." – Head Coach Tony Economopoulos.
RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer moves to 9-7-4 on the year, while Samford finished the season at 14-5-1.
UP NEXT
No. 4 Mercer advances to its second consecutive finals match of the Southern Conference Tournament and will play on Sunday, Nov. 8 at 1:00 p.m. in Greenville, S.C. The Bears will face the winner of the match between No. 2 Furman and No. 3 UNCG.
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.
