Mercer Drops 2OT Heartbreaker at Furman

Tuesday, March 23

Greenville, S.C.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

3-8-1, 1-2-1SoCon

Furman

5-1-0, 3-0-0SoCon

Mercer

Furman

Photo by: Kayla Davis

3/23/2021 10:38:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

The Bears went to overtime against Furman for the sixth-straight match

By: Stephen Waldman

GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Mercer men's soccer team dropped a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in double-overtime at Furman on Tuesday evening.

The Bears out-shot Furman 25-11 in the match, including an 11-4 advantage in shots on goal. Mercer's leading scorers Dylan Gaither and Dawson Gideon led the team with five shots apiece, while Nick Wanzer and Leo Toledo Jr. both registered four shots in the contest. Gideon and Toledo Jr. both tallied two shots on goal, along with Ricardo Packer Jr. who sent two of his three shots on target.

JR DeRose made three saves on the night in goal, while his counterpart, Ben Hale, made 10 stops.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercer controlled the match from the opening whistle and took the first eight shots of the contest. The Bears' first threatening chance of the match came in the ninth minute when Gideon took the pass down the left side from Gaither and made his way into the box. After beating his defender to the outside, Gideon fired a left-footed strike that sailed wide to the left.

Gaither created another chance in the 23rd minute when he corralled the ball in the middle of the field and sent a shot on goal from roughly 30-yards out that forced Hale to make a diving stop. The Paladins recorded their first shot of the game in the 25th minute as Cole McLagan took a free kick from just outside the box and directed a shot toward the upper left corner of the goal. DeRose swiftly dove into the air and deflected the ball out of harms way to keep the game scoreless. The Peoria, Ill., native came up with another acrobatic stop in the final 20 seconds of the first half as DeRose tipped the ball off the crossbar before it dropped straight down onto the goal line before glancing off his leg, then off the post. Kareve Richards came in to boot the ball out of the dangerous area to keep Furman off the board.

The Bears went back on the offensive in the second half as Kevin Kim flicked a header on target that forced Hale to make another diving save. Gideon came in with a follow-up attempt but headed it over the crossbar. Gaither generated another high-quality chance in the 81st minute when he fielded a failed clearance on a corner kick and found some open space on the right side of the box. He fired a shot toward the goal, but Hale got enough of the shot to direct it out of play. Ousman Jabang nearly broke the scoreless tie less than a minute later off another corner kick. Hale overcommitted and was unable to get a touch on the ball, leaving Jabang a vacant goal to head the ball into, but McLagan covered for his keeper and booted the ball off the goal line.

Mercer continued to give Furman all it could handle in both overtime periods, putting six of its nine shots on target. Gaither and Gideon came up with the two best opportunities to send the Bears to victory, but Hale was up to the task on both occasions.

Furman worked the ball up the field quickly in the 107th minute when McLagan fed the ball into the box for Shaun-Chris Joash who scored the game-winning goal.

NOTABLES

Mercer and Furman have gone to overtime in each of their last six meetings.
The Bears held the advantage in shots (25-11), shots on goal (11-4) and corner kicks (7-2).
Mercer had six players register multiple shots in the game, led by Dylan Gaither and Dawson Gideon with five shots apiece.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to Betts Field this weekend to face the Wofford Terriers on Saturday at 2 p.m. for their final home match of the season.

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.