The Citadel Week 6 Notes
SoCon Week 6 Notes

CHARLESTON, S.C. – After starting the season with five home games at WLI Field, The Citadel women's soccer team has played three matches on the road, including two last weekend at Jacksonville and North Florida. This weekend, the Bulldogs open up Southern Conference (SoCon) play at Mercer. The Bulldogs and Bears will hit the pitch at 7 p.m. with the game streaming live on ESPN3.

"I believe as a group we are prepared for the challenge of SoCon competition," said Head Coach Ciaran Traquair. "The priority in non-conference play is to develop your system and fine tune how you want to play the game. In that period of development, you want to also be successful, build excitement and increase the confidence levels amongst the group of players. We are aware of the areas we need to improve in, but we also now know the different ways in which we can hurt our opponents.

"Mercer is a well-coached program and they are able to grind out results," Traquair continued. "We know we will have to perform well and match their work rate to be able to come away with three points. We are a still a young group, but there are some very encouraging signs in terms of our development as a team and our desire to want to win."

With Mercer joining the SoCon prior to the 2014 campaign, 2017 will mark just the fourth meeting between The Citadel and Mercer on the soccer pitch. The Bears claimed the first three meetings over the Bulldogs; 1-0 in Charleston in 2016, 3-0 in Macon in 2015 and 3-0 in Charleston in 2014.

Mercer is led by sixth-year head coach Tony Economopoulos. Under his guidance, the Bears have gone 63-42-13 (.589) to date, including winning the 2014 SoCon championship.

This season, the Bears are 6-4. After starting the season off 2-0 with wins over Troy and Montevallo, Mercer dropped four straight to Siena, Kennesaw State, Loyola Chicago and Marquette, but have bounced back to win four in a row entering Friday. In the most recent stretch, the Bears bested Georgia State, Alabama A&M, Presbyterian and South Carolina State, out-scoring the quartet 11-1, including a 6-0 thrashing of S.C. State on Sunday, Sept. 17.

Ally Fordham has led the offensive charge for Mercer with three goals. Sarah Adcock, Alexius Hill and Caroline Smith have all scored two goals. Both of Adcock's goals were game-winners. In net, Mercer has utilized three goalkeepers with Jordyn Ebert making five starts, Leah Cochran four and Payton Jamieson one. Ebert has made 43 saves while giving up just 10 goals and is 4-3 on the year. Jamieson started between the pipes in the most recent game for the Bears, posting a 2-0 record while minding the net for one half in each of the last two contests.

Following this weekend's single match in Macon, The Citadel will return home for two league games at WLI Field to close out the month of September and open up October. The Bulldogs will take on Wofford on Friday, Sept. 29, at 2 p.m. and will then host Furman on Sunday, Oct. 1, in a 2 p.m. matchup.

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