The Citadel First Round Game Notes
SoCon Championship Site

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel women's soccer team will be the No. 10 seed in the 2017 Southern Conference Championship, which begins this week. The Bulldogs will travel to seventh-seeded Mercer on Wednesday, Oct. 25, to play in a first-round game at 7 p.m. with the winner of that game advancing to the quarterfinal round of the tournament and a match at No. 2 Samford on Saturday, Oct. 28.

The 2017 Southern Conference Women's Soccer Championship begins Wednesday, Oct. 25, with a pair of first-round matches on campus sites. The quarterfinal round follows on Oct. 28-29, also at campus sites, while the semifinals and championship will be played at the Samford University Track and Soccer Stadium on Nov. 3 and 5, respectively. The tournament winner earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship. The SoCon final on Nov. 5 will air live on ESPN3.

The Citadel has made four appearances in the Southern Conference Women's Soccer Championship, posting a 2-4 record. The Bulldogs made their first appearance in the tournament in 2010 as the No. 3 seed, besting sixth-seeded Furman 2-1 in overtime in the quarterfinals before falling 4-3 to No. 2 seed Samford in the semifinal round. In 2014, The No. 9 Bulldogs bested the eighth-seeded VMI Keydets 3-0 in a first-round game before falling 6-0 to top-seeded Samford in the quarterfinals.

The Citadel and Mercer have met just four times on the soccer pitch with the Bears having won all four contests. Earlier this season, the Bulldogs opened their Southern Conference slate at Mercer, falling 3-1 on Friday, Sept. 22.

Mercer enters the 2017 SoCon Championship as the No. 7 seed after dropping four of its last five matches. The Bears' lone positive result in that stretch was a 0-0 draw at home against Chattanooga. Mercer is 9-9-1 overall on the year.

The Bears have been led this season by Ally Fordham's five goals, including one game-winner. She has started 13 of the 19 games she has appeared in and has 12 points on the year, including a pair of assists. Behind her, Valeria Bermeo also has 12 points, including three goals and a team-high six assists. Bermeo also leads the team with 42 shots on the year. Sarah Adcock and Alexius Hill both have three goals on the year with Adcock complimenting her three scores with three assists. In net, Jordyn Ebert has logged the most minutes at goalkeeper for the Bears, started 14 of the 19 contests she's appeared in. Ebert leads the Mercer keepers with 84 saves compared to 21 goals against.

Furman claimed the No. 1 seed in the 2017 Southern Conference Women's Soccer Championship after posting an 8-0-1 league mark. Samford, who finished the regular season with a 12-5-2 overall record, has now claimed at least a share of the Southern Conference championship for the fourth straight year. UNCG locked up the No. 3 spot on Friday, defeating Mercer 1-0. UNCG will host No. 6 Chattanooga on Oct, 28.  Western Carolina and VMI both finished the season 4-4-1 in conference play, with the Catamounts earning the No. 4 seed through a tiebreaker. VMI earned a 1-0 victory over Mercer on Sunday, vaulting from the bottom four to the No. 5 seed. The two sides will face off on Sunday, October 29. Mercer claimed the No. 7 seed while ETSU is No. 8. The Bears will welcome No. 10 The Citadel to campus on Wednesday, Oct. 25, while the Bucs will host No. 9 Wofford that same evening.

For more information and score updates on The Citadel soccer team, follow @CitadelWSoccer on Twitter or visit CitadelSports.com.