JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Sept. 16, 2026) - There will be no gift exchanges and maybe not even so much as a friendly greeting, but two teams that know each other all too well will renew ties on Thursday.
The ETSU women's soccer team plays host to the Mercer Bears to open the SoCon leg of the 2026 schedule. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Summers-Taylor Stadium. Admission is free for all ETSU home matches.
MATCHUP: ETSU (3-3-1) vs. Mercer (5-3-1)
DATE: September 17, 2026, 6:00 PM
VENUE: Summers-Taylor Stadium (Johnson City, TN)
TV: ESPN+ (Keith Brake)
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
The Bucs return home after a 1-1 draw at Radford on Sunday night where they conceded early and equalized late with a boatload of missed chances in between. It was the first time since March 20, 2021, that ETSU had 20 or more shot attempts and did not win. Reagan Fitzgerald scored for the third time this season in the 76th minute to bring ETSU onto level terms. Fitzgerald's next goal will be her 20th and will tie Terri Miller for the ninth-most in a career. Two more points will also tie Fitzgerald with Miller for the eighth-most points in a career (48).
The Bears won five of their nine non-conference games to start 2026 with wins over Jackson State, West Georgia, South Carolina State, Winthrop, and Alabama State. They played USF to a 2-2 draw last Thursday in Tampa, losing a 2-1 lead with just over 10 minutes to play. They have scored 11 goals in their last three games and sit 30th in the country and second in the SoCon in goals per game at 2.67. Olivia Bori (7 goals) and Elizabeth Michaelson (6) have been favorite targets of the nation's assists leader, Anna Bachman (7). Bachman was the primary assist on both goals the Bears scored at USF last week.
This is the 28th meeting between ETSU and Mercer, making it the most-played match-up in ETSU's history. The Bucs are just 6-15-6 against Mercer all-time and have not beaten the Bears in the regular season since a 2017 overtime win on October 8 of that year. The Bucs and Bears have met in four of the last five SoCon tournaments, with ETSU advancing past Mercer in the 2023 tournament in the only game of the four played in Johnson City. Sinoxolo Cesane scored in the seventh minute and Ashton Blair recorded her record-setting eighth shutout of the 2023 season to defeat Mercer 1-0.
For more information on ETSU women's soccer, go to ETSUBucs.com.
