Six Bears Receive All-SoCon honors

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Mercer Bears women's soccer team had six players receive All-Southern Conference honors before the start of the conference tournament, the league office announced Wednesday afternoon.

Brie Pavol represented the Bears as a first team defender while four Mercer student-athletes – Ally Fordham (forward), Aliah Kitchens (forward), Ciara Whitely (midfielder) and Jordyn Ebert (goalkeeper) were second team selections. Kendall Cook earned a spot on the all-freshman team.

Pavol anchored a Mercer backline that helped the Bears win seven contests and finish 5-3-0 in Southern Conference play. The Ringoes, N.J., native appeared in 16 matches and played more than 1,400 minutes as a senior. She played a vital role in helping Mercer shutout Georgia Southern (Sept. 24) in the fall and Southern Conference foe UNCG on March 19. In addition to leadership on the backline, Pavol contributed offensively, recording an assist against Furman and scoring her first goal of the 2020-21 season at Samford. For her career, Pavol has scored six goals and added six helpers while playing more than 6,200 minutes.

Fordham had a breakout campaign as a senior, scoring a career best nine goals and adding an assist for 19 points in the regular season. She ranked second in the conference in goals, third in points and fourth in points per match (1.06). The El Cajon, Calif., native had a pair of multi-goal performances, finding the back of the net twice against Wesleyan (Feb. 11) and Wofford (March 7). Against the Terriers, Fordham netted the equalizer in the 51^st minute and scored the match-winner in the first overtime to lift Mercer to its first SoCon victory of the 2020-21 season. Fordham also scored the winning goal against Georgia Southern (Sept. 24), The Citadel (March 12), UNCG (March 19) and VMI (March 21). Her final three match-winners were all consecutive and part of the Bears' four-match winning streak. Fordham has scored 20 career goals and is now a two-time All-SoCon honoree having earned a spot on the all-freshman team in 2017.

Kitchens was third on the squad with six goals and also added four helpers for 16 points. She scored her first career goal in the season opener against Georgia State (Sept. 11) and also added a goal in an October match against The Citadel (Oct. 9). To open the spring, Kitchens scored in back-to-back contests, netting a goal against UAB (Feb. 7) and scoring twice in a win over Wesleyan (Feb. 11). Her sixth and final goal came in Mercer's 3-1 win over VMI on March 21. Kitchens has played in 16 matches with 11 starts as a sophomore.

The speedy Whitely has been a force in the midfield, playing more than 1,300 minutes and scoring three times while assisting on two scores. The sophomore from Lawrenceville, Ga., recorded her first helper of the season against the Bulldogs of The Citadel on October 9. When the spring portion of the schedule began, she broke into the scoring column with a two-goal performance against the Wesleyan Wolves on February 11, finding the back of the net a remarkable 3:49 into the match and again in the 55^th minute. Whitely assisted on Cook's match-winner against in-state rival Kennesaw State on February 21 and added a goal in league play against VMI on March 21. She is now a two-time all-conference honoree after earning All-SoCon Second Team honors as a freshman.

Ebert has become one of the most decorated student-athletes in Mercer women's soccer history. This season alone, Ebert has won seven matches and made 88 stops, the most in the SoCon, while saving over 80 percent of shots sent her way. Ebert shutout the Eagles of Georgia Southern (Sept. 24) and Owls of Kennesaw State (Feb. 21) and teamed up with Payton Jamieson to record a clean sheet against the Wesleyan College Wolves (Feb. 11). Thanks to a stellar senior campaign in the net, Ebert now finds herself featured prominently in the Mercer women's soccer record book. She began the 2020-21 season fifth all-time in wins and has since passed Amy Rudge (27) and Teresa Patterson (28), moving to third with 31 victories. She needed only 37 saves a senior to reach 300 for her career, and easily surpassed that, making 88 throughout the regular season. Her 351 career saves moved her past Maggie Cropp (309) and Patterson (325). She sits second behind Rudge, who made 515 stops from 1990-93. Her 16 clean sheets are third in program history. Only Jean Worts (17) and Cropp (20) boast more shutouts.

Cook enrolled at Mercer a year early, and after becoming acclimated to the college soccer scene during the fall season, made her presence known from the start of the spring campaign. The forward from Alpharetta, Ga., recorded a hat trick in the Orange & Black's 13-0 romp of Wesleyan. She scored directly off a corner kick only 59 seconds into the action and assisted on Kitchens' score in the eighth minute. When the second half began, Cook scored back-to-back goals in less than six minutes, tallying seven points in the match. 10 days later, she netted the match-winner in a 1-0 win in Betts Stadium over in-state foe Kennesaw State. SoCon officials selected Cook as the Women's Soccer Player of the Month for February after she tallied four goals and an assist for nine points in the month. Starting on March 12 at The Citadel, she began a streak of four consecutive matches with at least one point. She scored the equalizer in the 80^th minute against the 'Dogs and assisted on Fordham's match-winner in overtime. She followed her impressive performance against The Citadel with a match-winner of her own against UNCG and three total assists against Samford and VMI. Her 20 points lead the Orange & Black and are second in the conference.

Mercer will begin SoCon tournament play against No. 1 Samford in the semifinals on Friday at 3 p.m. (ET). The winner of that match will advance to the championship match where it will battle the winner of the second semifinal match which pits No. 2 Furman against No. 3 Chattanooga.

2020-21 Women's Soccer All-Conference Team

Player of the Year – Isabella Gutierrez, Jr., MF, Furman
Defensive Player of the Year – Maggie Shaw, Jr., D, Chattanooga
Coach of the Year – Gavin McKinney, Chattanooga
Freshman of the Year – Nieva Gaither, MF, Furman

First Team
F – Suzuka Yosue, The Citadel
F – Jasmine Greene, Furman
F – Taylor Yount, Samford
M – Isabella Gutierrez, Furman
M – Miya Poplin, Furman
M – Alyssa Frazier, Samford
D – Brie Pavol, Mercer
D – Kylie Gazza, Samford
D – Lexi Orman, Samford
D – Maggie Shaw, Chattanooga
GK – Morgan McAslan, Samford

Second Team
F – Ally Fordham, Mercer
F – Aliah Kitchens, Mercer
F – Caroline Orman, Samford
F – Chloe Arnold, Chattanooga
F – Rachel Rasins, Wofford
M – Nieva Gaither, Furman
M – Ciara Whitely, Mercer
M – Katie Gilligan, Wofford
D – Faith Hauberg, Furman
D – Ashley Avelino, UNCG
D – Lauren Dluzewski, Chattanooga
GK – Jordyn Ebert, Mercer

All-Freshman Team
Sinoxolo Cesane, ETSU
Addison Corn, Furman
Nieva Gaither, Furman
Miya Poplin, Furman
Kendall Cook, Mercer
Ella Simpson, Samford
Kendra Mueller, Chattanooga
Ao Yamada, Chattanooga
Maggie Lloyd, Western Carolina
Mia Bookhard, Wofford
Olivia Hughes, Wofford

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Players Mentioned

Kendall Cook

Jordyn Ebert

Ally Fordham

Payton Jamieson

Aliah Kitchens

Brie Pavol

Ciara Whitely

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