Mercer Defeats Chattanooga 1-0 To Close Out Regular Season

Sunday, November 1

Macon, Ga.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

8-8-3, 3-5-2

Chattanooga

9-4-5, 5-3-2

Team	1	2	Final F
Chattanooga	0	0	0
Mercer	0	1	1

11/1/2026 6:31:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Olivia Bori scored her ninth goal of the season

MACON, Ga. – Olivia Bori scored her ninth goal of the season from an assist from Anna Bachman to send the Bears to a 1-0 win over Chattanooga Sunday afternoon from Betts Stadium.

With the win to close out the regular season, Mercer (8-8-3, 3-5-2 SoCon) earned the No. 7 seed in the SoCon Tournament. The Bears handed the Mocs (9-4-5, 5-3-3 SoCon) only their fourth loss all season and dropped Chattanooga from the No. 3 seed to the No. 5 seed.

In a tightly contested game that saw the shot total after 90 minutes, even at nine for each team, it was Mercer that was able to score the lone goal of the game and the Bears held on for their third conference win of the season. Mercer had four shots on goal to just two for Chattanooga. Not many corner kicks were had either as the Bears had three to only one for the Mocs.

The first half saw both defenses playing well as neither team's offense was able to gain much possession in the attacking third. Emily Rutkowski had Mercer's best chance in the first half in the 31st minute on a corner kick from Anna Bachman that was headed just over the crossbar by Rutkowski. The score remained 0-0 at halftime.

Mercer came out playing fast to start the second half and in the first three minutes had itself the game's opening goal. In the 48th minute, Hayden Lepley controlled a Chattanooga corner kick and the Bears conncected a few passes before playing the ball out wide right to Bachman who dribbled past a Chattanooga defender and sent a cross to the far post where Bori jumped above a Mocs defender and headed the ball into the near post for her ninth goal of the season to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.

Mercer did well to keep as much possession as it could and held Chattanooga without a quality scoring chance for much of the rest of the second half. Until, in the 90th minute a long ball over the top from a Chattanooga defender found the foot of a sprinting Mocs forward in Paige Thomas who tried to dribble around Avery Parker who came out of her box but handled the ball. Parker was given a red card for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity giving the Mocs a free kick with 26 seconds to play from just a few yards outside the top of the box in the middle of the field. Chattanooga's leading goal scorer Quinn Johnson took the free kick that was blocked by Maggie Rollins in the Mercer wall and the Bears saw out the final 26 seconds to pick up the win.

SCORING SUMMARY
48'	MERCER GOAL: Olivia Bori (9) ASSISTS: Anna Bachman

NOTABLES

+ Mercer has now won four straight games at home against Chattanooga.
+ Olivia Bori scored her team leading ninth goal of the season.
+ Anna Bachman picked up her SoCon leading eighth assist of the season.
+ Mercer became just the third team this season to shuout Chattanooga.
+ With the win, Mercer finished the season 4-4-1 at home.

UP NEXT

Mercer is the No. 7 seed in the SoCon Tournament and will play No. 10 seed Wofford on Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. from Furman's campus in Greenville, South Carolina. The winner will play Furman on Sunday at Furman.

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