Men's soccer (3-7-3, 1-0-1 Southern Conference) fell, 3-0, to Georgia Southern (9-2-1, 2-2 Sun Belt Conference) on Tuesday, giving the Bears their first loss of October. Prior to the game, Mercer had found back-to-back success against tough conference foes, tying No. 7 Furman University 1-1, and besting Wofford College 5-4. The five goals against the Terriers was the team's highest single-game goal total in two years.
The Bears faced a highly talented Georgia Southern team, which has been ranked as high as No. 24 in the country this season and are undefeated against SoCon teams. Starting early on in the game, Mercer had to grind out a defensive stance as Bears were struggled to touch the ball in the opening 20 minutes. The team committed six fouls and conceded seven shots, one of which got past keeper Henry Hampshaw '28 in the 18th minute for the game's first goal.
While possession for the Bears was scarce, the team's young offense, led in this game by Aaron Pondeca '28 and Bryce Griffith '28, showed occasional explosiveness on some deep runs and set pieces.
After the first 25 minutes, during which Mercer was unable to get any shot off, the Bears made some changes, substituting four of their starters. The rotation proved helpful, as the team quickly tallied a couple corner kicks and their first two shots of the game. The improved offense and steady defense kept Mercer in the game as it went into halftime down 1-0.
The Eagles came out firing in the second half after making four substitutions of their own, and slid a hard-hit shot by Ricky Louis, the team's leading goalscorer, past Hampshaw to put Southern up by two in the 64th minute. The goal tamped down Mercer's first half momentum, and the team allowed a third goal ten minutes later.
This game marked only the second loss by Mercer to Georgia Southern in the two teams' histories, and the first since 2016. Ethan Buffone '29 was the only Bear to play all 90 minutes, while Junior Casillas '26, who leads the team in points this season, saw only 18 minutes. Hampshaw looked strong, making a number of key saves that prevented the game from getting completely out of hand, but was unable to do much against the massive shot advantage, which ended 15-4 in Georgia Southern's favor.
Mercer next travels to Johnson City, Tenn., this Saturday to take on East Tennessee State University (1-6-4, 1-1-0 SoCon) in a SoCon matchup. The Bears, through two conference games, are currently tied for first in the SoCon.
Jacob Hossler '28 is an English and Law and Public Policy double major at Mercer University. While not serving as the Sports Editor at The Cluster, he enjoys running, writing and photography.
