September 5, 2010

Bears Ground Eagles in 3-0 Win

 

Box Score

 

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Mercer men's soccer team used two early first half goals to come away with a 3-0 road win over Winthrop on Sunday afternoon at Eagle Field.

 

Mercer out-shot Winthrop 16-15 with four different Bears collecting multiple shots in the contest.

 

Mercer's 3-0 shutout is the worst shutout loss at home for Winthrop since Gardner-Webb shutout the Eagles by a similar 3-0 result back in 2005.

 

The Orange and Black got on the board first with an amazing offensive display that led to two goals in the first 13 minutes of the match.

 

In the 10^th minute of play, sophomore Will Betts collected a low cross and fired a shot that was blocked but deflected right to freshman Joshua Ball who buried it in the back of the net for his first collegiate goal to give Mercer a 1-0 lead.

 

The Bears struck again just two minutes later when freshman Taylor Krek fired a shot on goal that was saved by the Winthrop keeper but bounced right to junior Ryan Young who slid in a shot to put the Orange and Black up 2-0.

 

Sophomore Brett Petricek kept Mercer's two-goal advantage intact for the remainder of the half. The Woodridge, Ill. product made an amazing save and disrupted the Winthrop offense by intercepting several crossing passes to keep the Bears up 2-0 going into halftime.

 

After a back-and-forth start to the second half, Mercer put the game out of reach thanks to its two most dynamic returning scorers from last season. Sophomore Richie Edmondson fought through multiple Winthrop defenders and laid a ball off to senior Ian Cameron who buried a bending shot in the upper right 90 to extend the Bears lead to 3-0.     

 

Winthrop had one more quality scoring chance in the 63^rd minute of play when junior Andres Pullin headed a cross at goal, but Petricek corralled the attempt to keep the Eagles off the board.

 

Petricek finished the day with five saves to earn his first shutout of the season, while sophomore Enrique Miranda made three saves in taking the loss for Winthrop.

 

Mercer continues its season-opening four-game road trip next Friday, September 10 when it takes part in the Flash Gordon Motors Invitational in High Point, N.C. with matches against Radford and host school High Point.