Nutzman's Brace Sends Bears To 2-0 Win Over Wofford

Thursday, October 15

Spartanburg, S.C.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

6-7-2, 1-4-1

Wofford

3-7-3, 0-4-2

Team	1	2	Final F
Mercer	1	1	2
Wofford	0	0	0

Nutzman's Brace Sends Bears To 2-0 Win Over Wofford

10/15/2026 10:33:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Bears earn first SoCon win of season

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Payton Nutzman scored two goals and the Mercer women's soccer team shutout Wofford in a 2-0 win Thursday night from Snyder Field in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Nutzman scored Mercer's first goal in conference play this season. A stretch of five games without a goal, despite the Bears playing well for a majority of those games and outshooting their opponents in three of those games.

Mercer (6-7-2, 1-4-1) outshot Wofford (3-7-3, 0-3-2), 19-6 and had 12 shots on goal while limiting the Terriers to just one shot on goal.

Ariel Bernard got the start in goal for Mercer. It was her sixth start of the year, but first since Georgia Southern on Aug. 27. She picked up her second shutout of the season.

Nutzman's first goal came in the 18th minute. Regan Moore played a ball out wide on the left wing to Emily Rutkowski, who then passed to Olivia Bori checking to her in the box. Bori while running away from goal, flicked the ball on to Nutzman who took a shot on her first touch with the outside of her right foot that went between the Wofford goalie's legs and in the back of the net for Mercer's first goal since Sept. 10 at USF.

Mercer thought it had a second goal before halftime, as Bori played a ball to Maria Karipidis in the box and she beat the Wofford goalie for a goal that would eventually be disallowed for a foul by the Bears in the build up to the goal. The two teams would then go into halftime with Mercer holding a 1-0 lead.

In the 59th minute, Rutkowski took a shot from the top right of the box that rang off the crossbar, keeping the Mercer advantage at one. Mercer kept working and found its second goal of the game in the 67th minute as Ariel Bolton sent a cross from the right wing that found the foot of Zibby Michaelson who's first touch went to Nutzman who dribbled around two Wofford defenders before taking a low, left-footed shot that bounced off the right post and into the net for her second goal of the game and fifth of the season.

Mercer kept the pressure on the Wofford defense for the remainder of the game, as Maggie Rollins and Hayden Lepley each had good scoring chances, but were unable to capitalize on them as Mercer had to settle for a 2-0 win over the Terriers.

NOTABLES

+ Nutzman's goal in the 18th minute was the first goal for the Bears since Emily Rutkowski's go-ahead goal at USF on Sept. 10..
+ Nutzman recorded her second brace of the season.
+ Ariel Bolton earned her second shutout of the season in goal for the Bears.
+ Mercer had four different players record an assist on the two goals.
+ Mercer outshot Wofford, 19-6 and had 12 shots on goal to just one for Wofford.
+ Seven different Mercer players had two or more shots in the game.

UP NEXT

Mercer returns to Betts Stadium to host VMI on Sunday, October 18. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. ET.

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