Mercer, South Carolina set for NCAA Tournament Clash

Thursday, November 17

Columbia, SC

1 PM

Mercer University

South Carolina

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Mercer, South Carolina set for NCAA Tournament Clash

11/16/2016 5:55:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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The programs’ second meeting of the year comes with much higher stakes

By: Gerrit Van Genderen

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Mercer will try and leave Columbia in victorious fashion for the second time this season when it faces South Carolina at 1 p.m. Thursday at Stone Stadium in the first round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament.

The Bears (13-6-1) came away with a 3-2 overtime win over South Carolina (10-7-1) on Aug. 30 – their second match of the season – that had no shortage of heroics as Jake Mezei netted the winner in the 102nd minute.

It'll be Mercer's third trip to the NCAA Tournament and first under head coach Brad Ruzzo. The program made two NCAA appearances in 1999 and 2001 – both ending in losses – following ASUN Championship wins. The Bears have been on the brink of an NCAA appearance nearly every year under Ruzzo, reaching the conference semifinal round in six of nine years.

Gates at Stone Stadium open at noon Thursday with tickets available for $8 (adults) and $5 (youth). The match will be streamed live via SEC+/ESPN3 with play-by-play and color from Burch Antley and Brian Hand.

THURSDAY'S MATCHUP
Date: Thursday, November 17
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: Columbia, South Carolina | Stone Stadium
TV: SEC+/ESPN3 | Watch ESPN
TALENT: Burch Antley: Play-by-Play | Brian Hand, Analyst
LIVE STATS: GamecocksOnline.com
TICKETS: Available at Stone Stadium | Adults: $8 | Youth: $5

TOUCHING DOWN IN COLUMBIA
The Bears made the 3.5-hour trip north Tuesday evening and practiced Wednesday morning. A location change was made for the morning fitness session due to poor air quality levels in the Columbia area due to wildfires in the region. Rather than practicing at Stone Stadium, Mercer instead used the turf surface of the Jerri and Steve Spurrier Indoor Practice Facility.

FULL DAY IN COLUMBIA
Thursday will feature three different collegiate soccer matches at Stone Stadium including Mercer's 1 p.m. showdown with South Carolina. The USC women's soccer team is hosting the NCAA Women's Tournament as well and will host Colorado at 7 p.m. Sandwiched in between those contests is another women's match at 4 p.m., featuring BYU and Oklahoma.

SERIES HISTORY
Mercer's win over South Carolina on Aug. 30 ended an eight-match win streak by the Gamecocks that dated back to the first head-to-head meeting in 1983. The Bears trail 8-1-0 all-time with all nine matches being played in Columbia. Mercer has been outscored 8-30 in the nine matches as well, having only scored multiple goals in two of the contests.

LAST TIME OUT
Mercer earned the Southern Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by defeating ETSU in a penalty shootout on Nov. 12 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The match went to penalties where the Bears prevailed after 110 minutes of scoreless play in regulation and extra time.

Goalkeeper Jeremy Booth made a pivotal save on the Buccaneers' second penalty kick attempt, eventually setting up the championship-clinching score by Max Poore two rounds later. Booth was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player while Airrion Blackstock, Ian Antley and Trenton Whitely joined him on the All-Tournament Team.

ANOTHER TRIP FOR RUZZO
Head coach Brad Ruzzo will take Mercer to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his nine years at the helm for the Orange and Black. Ruzzo previously helped lead Bradley University to four NCAA Tournament appearances as an associate head coach from 2000-07. A former standout defenseman at Cincinnati, Ruzzo led the Bearcats to their first NCAA Tournament berth as a senior captain in 1998.

IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE
Mercer has found great success in striking early this season. The Bears own six of the 10 fastest goals scored by SoCon players, including the top-four by Will Bagrou (0:26, 1:30), Jake Mezei (1:23) and Conner Antley (1:32).

IN THE BAG
Will Bagrou was named the Southern Conference Player of the Year on Nov. 8, becoming just the third player in league history to earn the distinctions of SoCon Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in his career. The dynamic junior forward has Bagrou ranking among the league's active career leaders in four major categories: first in points scored (63); third in goals (25); second in assists (13); and first in game-winning goals (9).

NOTABLES

Mercer is 0-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, losing 3-0 to Rhode Island in 1999 in Macon and 1-0 to Kentucky in 2001 in Clemson, South Carolina. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks are 16-21-2 in 39 tournament matches.
Mercer can match its program record of 14 wins set in 2014.
Mercer is scoreless in its two previous NCAA Tournament matches and will rely on an offensive attack that netted 33 goals in 20 matches to break that streak.
The Orange and Black have held their opponents scoreless in four of the last five matches played and are 3-1-1 in such contests.
The Southern Conference fared well against Conference USA foes this season, going 3-2-1 in six matches played. Mercer notched one of the three wins for the SoCon with its 3-2 (2OT) victory in Columbia while Furman earned the other two – 1-0 vs. No. 23 FIU and 1-0 vs. No. 16 Kentucky.
Mercer is 13-3 when scoring at least once this season.

SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA
South Carolina was upset by Old Dominion, 2-1, in the Conference USA quarterfinals Nov. 9 and has lost three of its last four matches. However, the lone win was an impressive 2-1 victory against Kentucky, which earned the No. 16 national seed and a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament.

It'll be the Gamecocks' 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance all-time and head coach Mark Berson is tied with Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski for the most NCAA appearances among active NCAA Division I coaches.

Nine Gamecocks earned All-Conference USA honors, led by senior Danny Deakin, who is a two-time All-Conference USA First Team selection.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Soccer, please follow the Bears on social media at @Mercer_MSoccer (Twitter) and /MercerMSoccer (Facebook) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.