Mercer At Furman For First SoCon Road Test

MACON, Ga. – The Bears are on the road again, this time for their first game in league play. Mercer will take on Furman on Saturday at noon in Greenville, S.C., as the Bears look for their first Southern Conference win of the season.

THE BEAR NECESSITIES
Date: Saturday, March 25 | 12 p.m.
Teams: Mercer (3-4, 0-1 SoCon) vs. Furman (2-6, 1-0 SoCon)
Location: Greenville, S.C. | Paladin Stadium
Game Notes: Mercer
Live Stats: FurmanPaladins.com | Video: ESPN3
Twitter Updates: @MercerLacrosse

DOMINATING THE FACEOFF X
The Bears have taken control of the faceoff X this season and currently lead the SoCon and rank 11th nationally with a 58.7 faceoff winning percentage. Will Beecham leads the league and ranks 18th nationally at 59.1 percent, while Kiel Brennan is second in the SoCon and 22nd nationally at 58.3 percent. Mercer is the only team in the league to have two players in the top 5 in faceoff percentage.

CLOSE CALLS
Four of Mercer's seven games this season have been decided by three goals or less. The Bears are 3-1 in those games.

SMOOTH CRIMINALS
With 8.43 caused turnovers per game, Mercer ranks second in the SoCon and 12th nationally. The Bears' 15 caused turnovers against Detroit Mercy ranks second in the SoCon this season and Mercer holds two of the top five team performances.

ALL CLEAR
Mercer is 115-137 on clears so far this season, notching an 83.9 clear percentage. The Bears are currently sixth in the SoCon and 51st nationally as seven of the league's eight teams rank in the top 60 nationally.

HODOVAL BETWEEN THE PIPES
Bradley Hodoval has spent a majority of the time between the pipes this season. He has made 62 saves and allowed 60 goals for a .508 save percentage and an 9.89 goals-against average. He currently ranks fourth in the league and 33rd nationally in GAA.

SERIES HISTORY
Mercer holds a 3-0 record in the series with Furman, but has won by a narrow margin each time. The first two games were decided by just one goal and last year, Mercer won by a margin of two goals, 12-10.

SCOUTING FURMAN
Furman is currently 2-6 on the year and started SoCon play with a convincing 19-6 win over Bellarmine last week.

Lou Yovino leads the Paladins with 15 goals, followed by William Holcomb and David Williamson with 12 and 10 goals, respectively. Yovino is currently sixth in the SoCon with 1.88 goals per game.

Jonah Moore has dished out a team-leading 11 assists and leads the Paladins with 18 points. Moore is currently third in the SoCon in assists per game (1.38).

Hil Blaze has served as Furman's faceoff specialist thus far, tallying a 55.2 winning percentage and going 85-of-154 at the faceoff X. He is ranked fifth in the league and 32nd nationally in faceoff winning percentage. Blaze has also grabbed a team-leading 28 ground balls and ranks 10th in the SoCon with 3.50 ground balls per game.

Alec Van de Bovenkamp has spend most of the time in goal for Furman, making 65 saves and allowing 51 goals foro a .560 save percentage and 7.79 GAA. The Paladins' netminder ranks second in the league and 14th nationally in save percentage, while coming in at second in the SoCon and 11th nationally in GAA.

How to Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Lacrosse, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerLacrosse (Twitter), /MercerMensLAX (Facebook) and @MercerMensLacrosse (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.

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Players Mentioned

Will Beecham

Kiel Brennan

Bradley Hodoval

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