Bears Set for Senior Night, Fall Finale Tomorrow

Saturday, October 17

Macon, Ga.

6:00 PM

Mercer University

UAB

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

Bears Set for Senior Night, Fall Finale Tomorrow

10/16/2020 12:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Head Coach Tony Economopoulos will honor the team’s 11 seniors prior to the match.

By: Kraig Doremus

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Bears will close out the fall season with a 6 p.m. match against UAB on Saturday evening and will honor the squad's 11 seniors prior to kickoff.

MATCH INFO
Date: Saturday, Oct. 17 | 6 p.m.
Teams: UAB Blazers (0-0-0) at Mercer Bears (1-3-1)
Location: Macon, Ga.
Live Stats: bit.ly/3nRPJGd
ESPN+: es.pn/33YOywT
Twitter Updates: @MercerWSoccer

SERIES HISTORY | LAST MEETING
Mercer has played UAB five times and picked up its first win against the Blazers in the last meeting between the two schools, which came in 2015. In that contest, five different Bears scored in the victory with Sarah Daane kicking things off with a goal in the seventh minute. The Bears held a 3-0 lead at the half and used two more goals to take a 5-0 lead by the 64^th minute. The Blazers avoided the shutout with a goal from Paige Hanks in the 77^th minute. In goal, Maggie Cropp and Christina Mursulli each made five saves.

SCOUTING THE BEARS
Mercer will close its fall campaign with hopes of earning victory number two of the season. The Bears dropped a 2-1 contest to the Georgia State Panthers on Thursday night despite a flurry of shots in the second half. Abigail Zoeller scored her first goal of 2020, becoming the fifth Bear to place a shot in the back of the net. After Jordyn Ebert started the match and made two stops, Payton Jamieson came on in relief for the second half.

Prior to tomorrow night's match, Coach Economopoulos and his staff will honor the team's 11 seniors –Ebert, Madi Johnson, Sarah Adcock, Madeline Alhamra, Lily Stauble, Alina McCue, Brie Pavol, Zoeller, Jamieson, Ally Fordham and Rhette Cauilan.

SCOUTING THE BLAZERS
Remarkably, the Blazers have not played a match yet in 2020. Erica Demers' squad was set to open the campaign on Oct. 8 against ULM, but due to a cancellation, the Blazers will take the field for the first time on Saturday night. UAB returns 8-of-11 starters and 20 players in all.

Demers brought in 11 players and has both youth and experience on the roster with 10 seniors and 10 juniors. The Blazers hope to improve on a 4-7-6 mark from a year ago. Set to begin her fourth season, Demers has led UAB to three winnings seasons, including a 13-4-3 record in 2017, her first at the helm.

The Blazers' leading goal scorer from 2019, Roswell, Ga. native Megan Hudgens is gone due to graduation, but each of its next three leaders – Regan Kommor, Sha'nya Stephens and Asha Zuniga return. Goalkeepers Eve Beyer and Johanna Ropp both return for UAB. The duo combined to make 84 saves while allowing just 20 goals.

NOTABLES

Saturday marks the fall finale for Econompoulos' Bears. The spring schedule and dates for the Southern Conference Championship will be announced at a later date.
Mercer's women's soccer program is seeking its 275^th victory.
The Bears and Blazers have not met since the 2015 season.
Aliah Kitchens leads Mercer with two goals while four others – Amaya Evans, Ally Fordham, Pace Stephenson and Zoeller – have also scored.
Ebert has made 24 saves in the net for a 0.750 save percentage.

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