Two early goals too much to overcome at Mercer  

MACON, Ga. (Oct. 29, 2022) – On Saturday night, the ETSU men’s soccer team came up short after allowing two goals inside the first 15 minutes to Mercer. Closing out the regular season on a 2-3 loss at Betts Stadium in Macon, Ga., the Bucs conclude the 2022 regular season campaign with a 8-5-3 overall mark and a 3-1-1 mark in conference play. 

SCORING

• 4’ – Michael Ille scored for Mercer, assisted by Ousman Jabang. 
• 14’ – Michael Ille scored his second of the night, assisted by Dylan Gaither. 
• 32’ – Lucas Lightner (Clarksville, Tenn.) opened the scoring for the Bucs, assisted by David Kovacic (Krsko, Slovenia).
• 62’ – Michael Ille put the Bears up by two, assisted by Ousman Jabang. 
• 86’ – Tarik Pannholzer (Flensburg, Germany) scored to get ETSU within one. 

MATCH SUMMARY

• Fast out the gate, Mercer capitalized on a counter-attack as Ille scored his first of the night in the fourth minute of the contest. 
• Responding to the early pressure, the Bucs fought back as Sebastian Reventlow-Mourier (Viborg, Denmark) had his attempt saved and Kieran Richards’ (Hamilton, New Zealand) shot was saved in the seventh and 13^th minute, respectively. 
• On their third shot, the Bears scored from another counter attack as Ille put away a ball assisted by Gaither to give Mercer to 2-0 lead in the 14th minute. 
• Fighting back, Cam Carroll (Clarksville, Tenn.) had his go at the Mercer goalkeeper but his shot was saved by Trevor McMullen for his third save of the night in the first 19 minutes. 
• The Bucs opened their scoring in the 32nd minute as Kovacic played a through over the top to Lightner. The Tennessee native wrestled a defender off of him and slid it passed the keeper. Lightner scored in back-to-back games to end the regular season.
• Seconds later, the Bucs had the opportunity to equalize as Richards had his shot saved, which ended up being the last opportunity of the half for ETSU.
• Defending for the majority of the second half, Mercer’s defense held tight as they faced six shots from the Bucs.
• Like their other two goals, Mercer used the counter attack to find the back of the net as Jabang ran up the right side line and passed it into Ille, who completed his hat trick in the 62nd minute of the game.
• Fighting as they did all night, the Bucs got a goal back in the 86th minute as Pannholzer out paced his defender and got off a shot from just on top of the 18-yard box to score his fifth goal of the season and cut the lead to one once again. 
• In the 87th minute, both Gabriel Ramos (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Yves Tcheuyap (Oakville, Canada) had their attempts blocked by the Merer defense to keep the score at the final whistle, 2-3. 

QUICK KICKS

• The Bucs end the regular season with a 3-1-1 conference mark and an overall record of 8-5-3, finishing second in the SoCon standings. 
• Fourteen Bucs featured for ETSU as Pannholzer lead the reserves, logging a total of 70 minutes. 
• With his goal, Pannholzer is now tied for fifth in goals scored in program history with 18 goals. He and Richards have both scored 18 times in a Buccaneer uniform. 
• With the win, Mercer ended the regular season with a 6-4-6 overall record and a 2-1-2 mark in conference play. 

UP NEXT

The Bucs will host the winner of the SoCon tournament quarterfinal, Mercer or VMI, on Sunday, Nov.6 at 3 p.m. in Summers-Taylor Stadium.