Men’s Soccer Defeats Furman; Advances to SoCon Championship

Sunday, November 10

Greenville, S.C.

1 p.m.

Mercer University

13-6-0

Furman

11-7-1

Mercer

Furman

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

Men’s Soccer Defeats Furman; Advances to SoCon Championship

11/10/2019 4:47:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

With the win, the Bears head to the SoCon Championship for the first time since 2017

By: Travis Rae

GREENVILLE, S.C. – For the first time since 2017, the Mercer men's soccer team will be heading to the Southern Conference Championship match. The Bears took down top seed Furman, 3-2, in double-overtime in the SoCon Semifinals on Sunday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED
In a back and forth soccer match, the Bears struck first. Less than three minutes into the contest, Dawson Gideon took a shot that went off the crossbar and Dylan Gaither collected the rebound and scored putting the Bears ahead, 1-0.

Following the Bears goal, Furman answered back with two of their own goals. Conor Sloan scored the first as he chipped a shot over JR DeRose head tying the game. The next goal was scored by Miles Fenton putting Furman ahead, 2-1. The lead lasted six minutes for the Paladins. With a loose ball in the box, Roberto Arteaga shot the ball through traffic to the right corner tying the game at 2-2, which would be the halftime score.

After a high scoring first half, the goalies combined for nine saves in the second half and kept both teams off the scoreboards and we were heading to overtime. Furman had the best scoring chance in the first overtime when Miles Fenton had a shot blocked by his teammate.Neither team would score in the first overtime period and we were heading to the second overtime.

Twenty-eight seconds into the second overtime, Conor Sloan had a shot on goal that JR DeRose saved. The Bears had the next scoring chance in the overtime period. Gideon found Leo Toledo Jr., who fired a rocket past goalie giving the Bears a 3-2 victory.

L2 + ⭕

Here's the 🚀 from @LeoToledo21 that put the Bears through!#RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/Krz6OOTIDi
— Mercer M-Soccer (@Mercer_MSoccer) November 10, 2019

NOTABLES

Dylan Gaither scored the first goal two minutes and 46 seconds into the contest. This was the fourth time this season the Bears have scored in the opening 10 minutes. The only goal that was faster for the Bears game against Memphis, when Mercer scored in two minutes and 16 seconds into the game.
This was the second time the Bears defeated the Paladins in overtime this season. Earlier this season, the Bears won 4-3 at Betts Stadium. With the win, the Bears improved to 3-4 in overtime games this season.
The Bears advance to the Southern Conference Championship for the first time since 2017. During the 2017 season, the Bears won the championship in penalty kicks. During the run, the bears were the fourth seed and knocked off the fifth seed and top seed.
Over the last seven seasons, the SoCon regular season champion has not won the SoCon Tournament Title. The trend continues this year after the Bears defeated top seed Furman. The last time a school won both was 2012 when Elon won both.
Mercer entered the semifinals with a record of 4-5 in road games this season. The win evens its record at 5-5 on the season in road games.

UP NEXT
The Bears will be back in action next weekend in the SoCon Championship contest. The contest will be played at the higher remaining seed and will be on Saturday, Nov. 16 or Sunday, Nov. 17 depending on whom the host is. The Bears will face the winner of the sixth seed Belmont and second seed UNCG match.

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.