Bears Fall to Clayton State in Exhibition Finale, 3-2

Box Score

MORROW, Ga. – The Mercer men’s soccer team battled back from a two-goal deficit, but let up a late tally to drop a 3-2 decision to Clayton State on Saturday evening at Laker Field.

Clayton State outshot Mercer 12-10, but Mercer held a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks.

The Lakers started the match with a flurry, scoring a pair of goals in the opening minutes. Freshman Arturo Cruz took a loose ball at the top of the box in the sixth minute of the game and slid it past Mercer goalkeeper Daniel Van Valkinburgh to make the score 1-0. Clayton State went up 2-0 just a minute later when junior Ryan Pugh fired a shot from 16 yards out past Van Valkinburgh into the upper left 90.       

The Bears responded in the big way, however, scoring the next two goals of the match. Sophomore Stefan Wingo took a deflected cross and headed it past Lakers goalkeeper Brian Garcia in the 24th minute to cut Clayton State’s lead to 2-1. The Bears knotted the match up at 2-2 in the 33^rd minute when a Lakers turnover saw freshman Jeffrey Clithero feed a beautiful through ball to sophomore Richie Edmondson who buried a shot in the back of the net.

After an action packed first stanza, the second half proved to be much more defensive oriented until the Lakers put the game away with a late tally. Senior Sukhman Bal fired a shot from 25 yards away that bent into the right side of the goal to put Clayton State ahead 3-2 in the 79^th minute.

The Bears had one more quality scoring chance in the 87^th minute when Clithero blasted a bending shot from 20 yards out that glanced off the crossbar and back into play.

Head coach Brad Ruzzo tried to gauge the youth on his roster in the contest, starting three freshmen and giving four more significant playing time.

Tonight’s contest concluded the Bears preseason schedule. Mercer kicks off its regular season on Friday, September 3 when it travels to Boiling Springs, N.C. to take on Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m.