CULLOWHEE, N.C. (Oct. 30, 2025) – A season rich with achievement and records now stands at the base of the most vital achievement of all: tournament time.
The ETSU women's soccer team will look to climb one more mountain starting Friday in Cullowhee, North Carolina, when they face the Mercer Bears in the 3/6 matchup in the 2025 SoCon Women's Soccer Championship. The winner will play the winner of the 2/7 game between Western Carolina and UNCG to be played later on Friday night.
MATCHUP: #3 ETSU (9-3-6, 4-1-4) vs. #6 Mercer (8-6-3, 3-3-3)
DATE: October 31, 2025, 4:00pm
VENUE: Catamount Athletic Complex (Cullowhee, NC)
LIVE STATS: CatamountSports.com
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ (Matt Stradley, Mathes Mennell)
ETSU's third-place finish in the regular season is their second top three finish in the last three years, and their second-highest since 2018. The Buccaneers were the two seed in the 2023 SoCon Tournament and advanced to the semifinals.
Reagan Fitzgerald still paces ETSU with nine goals and 23 points, fourth and third in the SoCon, respectively. Fitzgerald is second in the nation in game-winning goals with six, and the Bucs are 12-1-1 when Fitzgerald scores since her career began in 2023.
Addison Yelton's eighth shutout of the season against VMI tied the program's single-season record set by
Ashton Blair in 2023. Yelton is second in the SoCon in shutouts and 20th in the country while also leading the SoCon and ranking 46th nationally in goals against average (0.772). As a team, the Bucs rank 55th out of 345 teams in the NCAA in GAA and 56th in shutout percentage.
Mercer recovered from a slow start in SoCon play to go 3-1-1 in the last five games with the only loss coming to Samford on October 16. The Bears have scored just twice in the last four games but have won both by 1-0 margins. Oklahoma transfer Morganne Eikelbarner leads Mercer with eight goals overall and three in SoCon play while senior Sydney Farr complements with two goals in nine SoCon games and five overall this season. Mercer and ETSU played to a 1-1 draw on September 26 with an 88th minute stunner by
Caroline Wawak saving a draw for the Buccaneers.
The Bucs have won in the SoCon quarterfinals just three times since rejoining the league in 2014: Western Carolina in 2016, Mercer in 2018 on a Sarah Connolly 80th minute strike, and Mercer again in 2023 when ETSU made a
Sinoxolo Cesane goal in the seventh minute stand up for the balance of the match. The Buccaneers are 3-2-1 against the Bears in the SoCon tournament across all rounds since 2014, the most famous of which was a 3-1 victory in the 2016 semifinals thanks to an Isabel Hodgson brace that lifted the Bucs to their first win over Mercer in five years and put ETSU in its first, and to date only, SoCon Championship final.
For more information on ETSU women's soccer, go to ETSUBucs.com.
