Bears Return Home Saturday To Face Air Force

Saturday, September 28

Macon, Ga.

7 p.m.

Mercer University

Air Force

9/27/2024 7:51:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Donovan Schultz, Donovan.schultz@live.mercer.edu

MACON - The Mercer men's soccer team returns home on Saturday to host the Air Force Falcons. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.

MATCH INFO
Date | Time: Saturday, Sept. 24 | 7:00 p.m.
Teams: Mercer (3-2-4 overall, 0-0-0 SoCon) vs Air Force (0-6-1 overall, 0-0-0 WAC)
Location: Macon, Ga. | Betts Stadium
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stats
Twitter Updates: @Mercer_MSoccer

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's match marks the first meeting between the Bears and Falcons. The Bears' last game against a WAC opponent came last season, a 0-0 draw at Utah Valley.

LAST TIME OUT
Mercer picked up an impressive road result on Tuesday, playing #3 North Carolina to a 0-0 draw.

Bears goalkeeper Trevor McMullen was stellar once again, posting his nation-leading sixth clean sheet of the season. The senior made four saves on the night, including a diving stop in the 83^rd minute for the 200^th save of his career.

Mercer was stout as a defensive unit, holding the Tar Heels scoreless for just the second time this year. The Bears veteran back line of Sekou Agard, Natnael McDonald and Woodi Pondeca played all 90 minutes. Both Agard and Pondeca have yet to be subbed off this year.

Mercer's best scoring chance of the night came in the 10^th minute, as Carlos Santamaria delivered a great ball into the box on a free kick for Nick Wanzer, whose shot was just over the post. Dalton Reyna came off the bench to deliver the only shot on goal of the match for Mercer, a strike from just outside the top of the box that was saved on a dive in the 51^st minute.

Freshman Aaron Pondeca made his first career start on Tuesday, playing a season-high 57 minutes.

SCOUTING AIR FORCE
Air Force enters Saturday's match with a 0-6-1 record on the year. The Falcons last time out came last Friday, a 2-0 loss to UC-Riverside.

Senior Nick Bisagno leads the Falcons in scoring with three points, while Ridge Owen, Bradley Poppell and Logan Zaa each have two points on the season. In net, both Will Collins and Brody Smith have seen action, with Collins having started the last two games. The Georgia native holds a 1.99 goals against average this season.