Coming off its first conference win of the season, the ETSU men’s soccer team entered Thursday’s game eyeing a potential appearance in the Atlantic Sun Tournament.
But the Mercer Bears were, too.
The two teams matched each other’s efforts measure for measure, and ultimately ended with a final score of 2-2 (1-0, 1-2, 0-0, 0-0) Thursday afternoon at Summers-Taylor Stadium. The tie keeps an ETSU tournament bid just out of reach.
“The result’s a little disappointing,” said Bucs head coach Scott Calabrese. “I thought we had our chances, and didn’t necessarily make the most of them.”
At the outset of the match, the Bears managed to stay on ETSU’s side of the field consistently, but were unable to penetrate the Bucs’ defense.
The Bucs then launched four deep drives into Mercer territory, and on the fifth drive midfielder Tyler Hoek scored the first goal of the game on a rebound from his own shot. ETSU’s defense held strong for the remainder of the half to enter halftime with a 1-0 lead.
The lead would not last long, however, as Bears midfielder Ian Cameron launched a downfield pass to defender Bolande Ogunmade for a breakaway goal 4:33 into the second half.
The Bucs quickly responded as midfielder Tony Nunes slipped in a goal off a cross pass from midfielder Andrew Brown. Facing a 2-1 deficit, Mercer began applying more defensive pressure to stop ETSU drives before they started.
“They didn’t give us any time or space in the midfield, and they were careful not to let us break quickly,” Calabrese said. “All credit to Mercer for taking away from us what we’re good at.”
Despite Mercer’s renewed defensive effort, their offense remained stagnant as they tried to fight back from the deficit. ETSU fouls and turnovers, however, helped them keep control of the ball.
With 11:10 remaining in the half, Bears forward Philip Thoren came away with the tying goal after it slipped through the hands of Bucs’ goalkeeper James Holt.
“I had it, and when I came down, I hit the ball on top of (Thoren’s) head and it came out of my hands,” Holt said. “The ball rolled around and unluckily found the back of the net.”
Calabrese concurred that bad luck may have played into Mercer’s second goal.
“The ball bounced around two or three times and we just couldn’t get it out,” Calabrese said. “It was more of an unlucky, unfortunate goal than any great play on their part.”
Both teams continued their battle of field position through the two overtime periods, but in the end, neither would come away with a victory.
“We made some mistakes and poor decisions,” Calabrese said. “This is definitely not the best soccer we’ve played.”
The tie keeps ETSU (1-5-1, 5-8-1 A-Sun) at the eighth spot in the Atlantic Sun standings, while Mercer (1-4-3, 6-1-9 A-Sun) stands in seventh place.
“Tonight would’ve given us a little leeway to get into (the tournament),” Holt said. “Now we know we have to work twice as hard.”
Two of ETSU’s last three games are against conference opponents. If the Bucs win out, they can clinch a spot in the tournament. Their next game is against Florida Gulf Coast at 7 p.m. on Oct. 31.

Author