Last school year, the football, softball, women’s lacrosse and volleyball teams set a high standard for excellence in the athletic category. All four teams won their conferences, with softball and lacrosse taking home SoCon championships and volleyball making it to the SoCon championship game. From the softball team’s mid-season turnaround to the lacrosse team’s continued dominance, here is how each team performed.
Halfway through the season, the softball team had little chance of making noise in the SoCon tournament, much less winning a title. The team lost nine conference games before the SoCon tournament, but rallied before the conference bracket began, winning five straight before going on to lose only one game in the entire tournament beating Furman University in the play-in game, 11-7, and Wofford College in the first round game, 5-2. The team then dropped their sole loss in extra innings against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, but, battling with their backs against the wall, the team bested East Tennessee State University, 11-3, and the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, 7-3, in elimination games. The team then went on to beat Samford University 13-5 in the semifinals, before beating Chattanooga in both championship games, 6-5, and 5-2. The team ended the season with a 40-26 record, including an 11-9 record in conference play. This is the first championship title the team has won in the 40 years the school has had a softball team.
Although the volleyball team did not win the SoCon Championship, the team were regular season champions, achieving a 26-7 season record, and a 14-2 record in the conference. The regular season championship game was against Wofford, where the team won out of five matches: 25-18, 25-22, and 15-12. It was the team's third regular season championship in five years. The team went on to play five more games that season, winning the first three and making it to the SoCon Championship match, ultimately losing in five sets to Wofford.
Football won their first SoCon Championship under new head coach Mike Jacobs. The team defeated perennial contender Furman, 49-23, in Five Star Stadium back in November 2024. This win marked football’s first ever championship at Mercer and solidified their best-ever record as the team finished 11-3 on the season and 7-1 in conference play. The team went to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship, falling to North Dakota State University.
Last but not least, women’s lacrosse extended their streak of Big South championships to four after defeating High Point University, 16-8, in May of this year. This historically successful team has the most championships in school history. The team’s season ended in a loss the following week during the NCAA tournament against the University of Florida, finishing with a record of 12-8 overall and 7-1 in the conference.
Schedules for the teams' upcoming seasons can be found on Mercer Athletics’ website
Nevaeh Wilson '28 is majoring in Journalism and minoring in Film Studies. She has been writing for The Cluster since her freshman year, and has worked for Mercer's ESPN studio. She enjoys watching college and professional sporting events.
