JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 4, 2023) – ETSU put unfinished business to rest when they beat Mercer to win the regular season title. Now they have a chance to bury more unfinished business by beating the team that denied them a chance at the tournament title last season. 
  
That team is also Mercer. 
  
The ETSU men's soccer team hosts the Mercer Bears on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the 2023 SoCon Men's Soccer Championship semifinal at Summers-Taylor Stadium. 
 
THE MATCHUP  
ETSU (9-5-2) vs. MERCER (6-5-7) 
Sunday, November 5 | 3 p.m. | Summers-Taylor Stadium | ESPN+ | Live Stats 
  
ABOUT THE BUCS  
·       ETSU earned the outright SoCon regular season title and a first-round bye last Saturday with an iconic 2-1 win over Mercer. Chris McKenna scored with three seconds remaining to give ETSU its first regular season title since 2017. 
·       McKenna's goal matches the latest ever scored in regulation at Summers-Taylor Stadium, and the latest game-winning goal. Emmanuel Wilson scored with three seconds remaining to force overtime in a 2-2 draw with Wake Forest on October 9, 2012. 
·       Tarik Pannholzer was named SoCon Player of the Year on Thursday, an honor shared with Wofford's Nikolai Rojel. He joins Joao Ramalho and David Geno as conference Players of the Year in ETSU's history and joins Fletcher Ekern as the only three-time all-conference picks in program history. Pannholzer's three goals and three assists in conference games each ranked second in SoCon play. The German has four goals and three assists in the last six games and rides a four-game point streak into the SoCon tournament. 
·       Cole Hunter was honored with his second SoCon Goalkeeper of the Year award this week, joining Jonny Sutherland as the only repeat winners of the award for ETSU and the fifth time in eight years, a Buccaneer 'keeper has won the award. Hunter leads the SoCon in goals against average, save percentage and saves per game, and is second in the SoCon with six shutouts. Hunter ranks fifth, fourth, 36th, and 24th in the country in those same categories, respectively. 
·       Two other Buccaneers earned first team All-SoCon honors: McKenna and Gabriel Ramos. Ramos has six goals and four assists this season, bringing him to 11 and 10 in his career. His 11 goals rank ninth in ETSU history, while his 10 assists and 31 points are tied for eighth at ETSU. McKenna has started 11 straight games in his first season with the Buccaneers, scoring all four of his goals and both of his assists in that span. 
 
ABOUT MERCER 
·       The Bears topped UNCG 3-1 with a commanding second half on Friday in the quarterfinals. Nick Wanzer scored off a free kick in the 30th minute, then SoCon Freshman of the Year Barzee Blama put them ahead for good in the 62nd minute before Ehi Aimuwu added insurance in the 66th. 
·       Blama is second in the SoCon and 50th in the nation in total goals after scoring his eighth of the year against the Spartans. Blama's goal tally is the highest by a freshman at Mercer since Trevor Martineau scored nine in 2019. Martineau also won SoCon Freshman of the Year that season. 
·       The midfield is led by a pair of dynamic transfer midfielders, Carlos Santamaria and Omar Hernandez. Santamaria, an All-Summit League selection at Oral Roberts in 2022, has three goals and four assists this season. Hernandez was a four-year regular at Wake Forest, playing 73 games with 31 starts and 13 goals. He has three goals and three assists this season. 
 
SERIES HISTORY 
·       This is the 26th meeting between ETSU and Mercer. The Buccaneers are 9-10-6 the Bears. 
·       ETSU and Mercer met in the semifinal of the 2022 SoCon Men's Soccer Championship, with the Bears winning 1-0 to defeat the Bucs for the second time in seven days. 
·       ETSU has never advanced past Mercer in conference tournament play. Mercer is 1-0-3 against ETSU in tournament matches and has won all three penalty shootouts. 
 
UP NEXT  
The winner of Sunday's game will play the winner of Sunday's Wofford-Furman game for the 2023 SoCon Men's Soccer Championship title November 11th or 12th at the site of the highest remaining seed. 
 
For more information on ETSU men's soccer, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's soccer tab.