Bears Dealt Purple Aces in Home Opener

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Men's Soccer team will finally have its home opener on Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. against the Evansville Purple Aces at Betts Stadium. The match was originally slated for 2 p.m., but has been pushed up to noon due to inclement weather forecasted from Hurricane Florence. The Bears enter the match with a 4-1-1 overall mark, competing on the road for the first six contests of the 2018 campaign.

SUNDAY'S MATCHUP
Date: Sept. 16 | 2 p.m. (ET)
Teams: Mercer (4-1-1) vs. Evansville (1-3-2)
Location: Macon, Ga. | Betts Stadium
Live Stats: mercerbears.com/livestats
Live Video: ESPN+
Twitter Updates: @Mercer_MSoccer

SERIES HISTORY | LAST MEETING
The Bears are 0-3 all-time against Evansville, with each of the matches being played in Evansville, Ind. at the Aces Soccer Classic. Mercer and Evansville most recently met on Sept. 19, 2014 with the Purple Aces claiming the 3-1 victory over the Bears. Evansville has outscored Mercer 7-2 in the all-time series.

NOTABLES

Mercer is off to a 4-1-1 start for the first time since 2010, marking the second-best six-match start under Brad Ruzzo. The Bears started the 2016 campaign 5-1.
Kobe Perez is currently second among active career leaders in points scored (28) and tied for third in assists with nine.
Roberto Arteaga leads the SoCon in points (9) and assists (5), while also ranking fifth in the NCAA in total assists and seventh in assists per game (0.83).
Ramario Thompson's two game-winning goals this season leads the SoCon and ranks ninth in the NCAA.
The Bears are the top team in the SoCon standings at 4-1-1, while the Paladins of Furman rank second with a 3-3 overall mark.

DEALING WITH THE ACES
Evansville enters the match with a 1-3-2 record, most recently dropping a contest at Northern Kentucky by the final score of 3-0 on Tuesday. The Purple Aces' lone win of the season was a 1-0 upset over then No. 17 Grand Canyon on Sept. 7. Ben Weber and Jesse Stafford-Lacey pace the squad with three points each, both registering one goal and one assist on the campaign. Evansville is 0-3-1 in matches played outside McCutchan Stadium.

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

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Players Mentioned

Roberto Arteaga

Kobe Perez

Ramario Thompson

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