SoCon Swing Starts

SoCon Swing Starts
Women's soccer ventures to Western Carolina and ETSU

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer women's soccer team will start the SoCon portion of their schedule this weekend, when they will visit Western Carolina and ETSU on Friday night and Sunday evening, respectively. Both matches will be broadcasted on ESPN+.

WCU MATCH INFO
Date & Time: Friday, September 24, 2021 | 1 p.m.
Teams: Mercer Bears at Western Carolina Catamounts
Location: Cullowhee, N.C. | Catamount Athletic Complex
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Live Stream: ESPN+
Twitter Updates: @MercerWSoccer

SERIES HISTORY | LAST MEETING
Mercer and Western Carolina will meet for the 11^th time in history. The Bears hold the 6-4 series advantage and have won three of the series' last five contests. In April, MU took a 3-1 victory behind goals from Kendall Cook, Ally Fordham and Payton Schurr, all within the game's first 48 minutes to put away the match. Mercer has also won two of the last three matchups in Cullowhee, even though they dropped the one in October 2019.

SCOUTING THE BEARS
MU completed its non-conference portion of 2021 with a 2-1 victory over Jackson State at Betts Stadium. Ally Fordham and Aliah Kitchens scored in the 29^th and 72^nd minutes, respectively, to secure the result against the visiting Lady Tigers. The Bears enter the weekend behind positive results in three of their last four matches. Fordham is leading the Mercer offense with three goals and an assist. Jordyn Ebert has been the lone Bear in goal, and she has stopped 24 shots on the season.

SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS
Western Carolina enters the match with a 5-3-1 record, and winners of their last two – both via shutout. Kirsten Hahn and Valentine Pursey pace the Catamounts' attack with a pair of goals and assists, respectively. WCU also enters Friday at 81^st in the country with 15.44 shots per match.

ETSU MATCH INFO
Date & Time: Sunday, September 26, 2021 | 6 p.m.
Teams: Mercer Bears at ETSU Buccaneers
Location: Johnson City, Tenn. | Summers-Taylor Stadium
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Live Stream: ESPN+
Twitter Updates: @MercerWSoccer

SERIES HISTORY | LAST MEETING
Mercer and ETSU will meet for the 15^th time in the series. The Bears hold the all-time series lead with a 9-4-1 mark. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these two sides did not meet in the unprecedented 2020-21 spring season, but Mercer took the last meeting – a 2-1 double-overtime win in Johnson City. The hosts have won three of the last five when playing in the Volunteer State.

SCOUTING THE BUCCANEERS
ETSU comes off two consecutive draws against in-state foes, Lipscomb and Tennessee Tech, and brings a 3-1-2 record into the matchup versus the Bears. Kyra Ranveck leads the Bucs' offense with a pair of goals, coming on just three shots. ETSU's freshman goalkeeper, Shu Ohba, was named the SoCon's defensive player of the week behind 110 scoreless minutes versus Tennessee Tech. The Bucs boast three student-athletes who were tabbed by the league office for POTW honors – Ranveck, Ohba and Sydney Somogyi, another defensive honoree.

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

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Players Mentioned

Kendall Cook

Aliah Kitchens

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