Bears Face Best Offense in the Nation

Saturday, October 2

Greensboro, N.C.

7:00 PM

Mercer University

3-6-1, 1-1-1

UNCG

8-2-1, 2-0-0

Mercer

UNC Greensboro

10/02/21 Starting XI

10/2/2021 8:52:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Mercer returns to play on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Mercer Bears with their fourth straight away match were defeated on the road by the UNCG Spartans. UNGC illustrated to the Bears why their offense is something you do not want to take lightly.

After making adjustments against Mercer's difficult offside trap, the home standing Spartans used three first-half goals to pull away from Mercer in this Saturday night conference matchup. UNCG got on the board when Emmanuel Hagen headed one in past Trevor McMullen not even 20 minutes into the contest. Theo Quartey soon after, only being on the pitch for five minutes, found the back of the net for the first time when he was assisted by Maycol Reyes for a 2-0 lead for the hosts. Just four minutes after his first, Quartey and Reyes teamed up again to add to their lead making it 3-0 for the Spartans. Those goals would conclude and summarize the attacks of the first half for both teams.

The second half started relatively quiet and seemed awkwardly content from both sides. UNCG looked like they started to play it safe and decided to value possession over offense. However, Mercer was able to fine-tune their ways and started to take advantage of this calm take by the Spartans.

As Mercer made their way through the second half, the Orange & Black were finally able to get into an offensive rhythm. With the offsides flag being constantly raised in their favor and acting as another defender, the Bears were able to find their offensive identity. With shots on target from Trevor Martineau, Kevin Kim, and Anthony Patti, Mercer showed that they could play with more emphasis. They started to move around the pitch more swiftly. With time ticking away, the Bears were able to find better through balls, make smarter attacking decisions, and test UNCG's defensive line. If you took the score board away, you would have no idea Mercer was trailing in the second half. The Orange & Black really made it difficult for UNCG's Niclas Wild at times. Nevertheless, the Bears were unable to capitalize on their impressive attempts falling short with the final score of 3-0.

The Bears will return to action on Tuesday, October 5^th when Stetson will visit Betts Stadium. Kickoff in Macon is slated for 6 p.m.

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