A goal in the final minute gave the Mercer Bears a 2-1 victory over Auburn in Saturday's exhibition game. The Tigers created 22 shot opportunities, but only sophomore Courtney Schell was able to capitalize in the 28th minute. Mercer tied the match in the 36th minute and went on to snag the win in the 90th minute.
"Mercer's a great team, we knew that. They had an excellent game plan and they executed it really really well so it presented a lot of great challenges for us," said coach Karen Hoppa. " We have tons to work on from this game."
The Tiger defense tried to translate their successful opening exhibition game against Kennesaw State, who they did not allow to score, by limiting Mercer to four shots. "Unfortunately they got in two goals, but we're just trying to build from this game and work on things we didn't do as well," said senior defender Kala Faulkner. "Moving on to California, we're focusing on that game, focusing on practice and just trying to get better as a team."
Auburn's 10 shots on goal were encouraging for junior offensive captain Casie Ramsier. "It's promising that we have a lot of shots, unfortunately we didn't get the ones we needed to win," said Ramsier. Translating those opportunities into the start of the season is "the most important thing, because we can work with that."
The Tigers will open the 2015 season at UC Irvine on Aug. 21 and will close their west coast business trip at Long Beach State on Aug. 23.
"We're excited about this trip," said Hoppa. "We've got a lot of California girls and it's alway great to get those girls the opportunity to play in their home state. Irvine and Long Beach State are two great teams that have both been to Sweet 16 before. They play a good quality level of soccer and we're just excited to get the season kicked off."
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