Greenville, S.C. – No. 5 seed Mercer netted a pair of goals in the opening six minutes as the Bears claimed the Southern Conference Men's Soccer Championship and punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 2-0 victory over No. 3 seed Furman in the league finals on Sunday afternoon at Stone Soccer Stadium in Greenville, S.C.
 
Mercer (7-6-8) will find out its first-round opponent and destination on Monday at 1 p.m. when the NCAA Tournament Selection Show streams live on NCAA.com. Tournament play is scheduled to begin on Thursday, November 16. Furman finishes its season at 10-6-3.
 
"We gave up two goals in the first six minutes and that is a hard hole to get out of, but I was proud of how our team fought today," said Paladin head coach Doug Allison. "I just want to thank the outstanding crowd we had today for supporting us and wish Mercer the best in the NCAA Tournament."
 
Nick Wanzer put the Bears on the board just 1:05 into the match. Omar Hernandez's throw-in to the middle of the box was headed down by a Paladin defender and Wanzer jumped on the loose ball to fire a shot through traffic that Paladin goalkeeper Aaron Salinas could not handle. The ball trickled across the goal line near the left post to put Mercer up 1-0.
 
In the sixth minute, Hernandez served a free kick toward the top of the six-yard box from the right wing that Salinas punched out, but the Bears' Carlos Santamaria volleyed the clearance over the scramble in the box and under the cross bar at the 5:23 mark to double the Mercer advantage with is fourth goal of the season.
 
The Paladins created several scoring opportunities in the second half with the best coming in the 68^th minute. Mercer goalkeeper Trevor McMullen saved a Luke Tandy free kick at the right post on a low shot that slipped through traffic. Moments later, Christian Kraus got onto the end of a cross at the left post, but McMullen made his second save in less than a minute to preserve the clean sheet.
 
McMullen finished with four saves to earn the shutout for the Bears, while Salinas stopped three shots for the Paladins.
 
Furman held a 9-8 edge in total shots on the afternoon and Mercer managed a 5-4 margin in shots on goal. 
 
Kraus, who netted a hat trick in the Paladins' tournament-opening win over VMI, was joined on the all-tournament team by Furman defenders Josh Hosie and Slade Starnes, it was announced during postgame ceremonies.
 
2023 SoCon Men's Soccer Championship 
Quarterfinals, Friday, Nov. 3
Match 1: No. 5 Mercer 3, No. 4 UNCG 1 (Johnson City, Tenn.)
Match 2: No. 3 Furman 4, No. 6 VMI 1 (Spartanburg, S.C.) 
Championship Semifinals, Sunday, Nov. 5
Match 3: No. 5 Mercer 1, No. 1 ETSU 1, MU advances on PKs (Johnson City, Tenn.)
Match 4: No. 3 Furman 1, No. 2 Wofford 0 (Spartanburg, S.C.) 
Finals, Nov. 12
Stone Soccer Stadium/Greenville, S.C.
Match 5: No. Mercer 2, No. 3 Furman 0