Mercer Takes on Jacksonville Sunday at Five Star

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Men's Lacrosse team is set to open Southern Conference play this Sunday when it hosts Jacksonville University. The SoCon contest will take place at Five Star Stadium with a start time of 2 p.m.

Sunday's Matchup
Date | Time: Sunday, March 21 | 2 p.m.
Teams: Mercer (2-4, 0-0 SoCon) vs. Jacksonville (3-3, 0-0 SoCon)
Location: Macon, Ga. | Five Star Stadium
Live Stats: Click Here
Watch: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @MercerLacrosse

Series History
Sunday's matchup between the Bears and Dolphins will be the second meeting of the season. Jacksonville came on Feb. 20 in Savannah. Mercer was defeated 12-11 in overtime. Jacksonville leads the all-time series, 8-2.

Scouting Mercer
Mercer is under the direction of first-year head coach Chad Surman and is 2-4 on the season. Mercer is coming off of a loss to North Carolina which was ranked No. 1 in the country when the Bears played the Tar Heels. Collin Stewart leads the team with 15 points (11 goals, 4 assists). Stewart has scored at least one goal in every game for Mercer. Senior Will McCarthy leads the team with 12 goals this season. McCarthy tied his career-high with four goals against Cleveland State. In goal for Mercer is Colin Kelley, who has started every game for Mercer this season. He has tallied 65 saves and is allowing 11.2 goals per game.

Scouting Jacksonville
Jacksonville is off to a 3-3 start and is led by head coach John Galloway. The Dolphins are paced by Jack Dolan who has 17 points (8 goals, 9 assists). Matt Stagnitta is also a top player for Jacksonville starting in every game so far this season and totaling 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists) for the Dolphins. Jacksonville has a team average of .284 on shot percentage this year and have put 117 shots on goal this season. As a team, Jacksonville is scoring 9.6 goals per game. The Dolphins have played three different goalkeepers this season with Adam Baker earning the most starts with four. The Dolphins are allowing 11.6 goals per game.

Notables

The last time the Bears took to the field was on March 7 when they faced then No. 1 UNC. In the contest, Colin Kelley recorded a career-high 17 saves. Following his performance, Kelley was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week.
This season, Mercer has collected three SoCon Player of the Week honors. Ashton Wood, Will McCarthy and Kelley all have earned either Offensive or Defensive Player of the Week honors.
This will be the second time the Bears have played the Dolphins this season. Mercer and Jacksonville squared off in Savannah on Feb. 20. The Bears were defeated 12-11 in overtime.
The Bears are 2-1 when playing at Five Star Stadium this season. Mercer will play five more games at home this season. Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Mercer is 6-1 at home with its lone loss coming to Bellarmine to open the 2021 season.
Ashton Wood is winning 65.3 percent of his faceoffs this season. This is the best in the conference and 13^th best in the NCAA.
Each week, a new Mercer player wears the No. 24 uniform in honor of Mercer signee John Michael Night. Before he could enroll at the University, Night suffered a devastating brain stem stroke leaving him in what is medically referred to as Locked-In Syndrome (LIS). This week, Garrett LeClaire will don the 24 jersey.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Lacrosse, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerLacrosse (Twitter) and @MercerMensLacrosse (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com

Mercer Takes on Jacksonville Sunday at Five Star

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Colin Kelley

Garrett LeClaire

Will McCarthy

Collin Stewart

Ashton Wood

Footer

Mercer University Athletics