STATESBORO - Georgia Southern women's soccer played visiting Mercer to a 2-2 draw on Thursday evening at Bo Pitts Field in the first meeting between the two in-state rivals since 2021.
The Eagles moved to 1-2-1 on the season with the draw, while Mercer remains unbeaten on the season at 4-0-1. Georgia Southern returns to action on Sunday, hosting Furman in a 1 p.m. contest at Bo Pitts Field.
The first half saw the Eagles strike quickly with a pair of goals in a two-minute stretch. Redshirt junior Kyleigh Drew took a feed from senior Smith Cathey and dribbled around the Mercer goalkeeper to finish into the open net for her first collegiate goal and an early 1-0 lead in the 20th minute.
Just under two minutes later, Cathey's ball that was cut across the top of the box found sophomore Meredith Pugh on the left side, and Pugh finished inside the far post for her first goal of the season and the 2-0 lead in the 22nd minute. The score would remain 2-2 until the break.
In the second half, Mercer tallied a goal in the 58th minute as a cross from Kendall Cook from the left side found Jada Moorman in the box, who flicked it inside the far post to make the score 2-1.
The Bears would then tie things up as Larkin Thomason converted a penalty kick in the 84th minute, beating Georgia Southern goalkeeper Katie Oakley right for the tying tally.
Oakley would make eight saves on the day to preserve the tie for the Eagles, while Mercer goalkeeper Lindsay Bell made a pair of saves for the Bears. Mercer held a 17-9 edge in shots on the contest while the Eagles had a 5-4 edge in corner kicks. Georgia Southern was whistled for 10 fouls and one offsides on the day, while Mercer was whistled for six fouls and three offsides.
"Today was a tight game and really a tale of two halves," Georgia Southern head women's soccer coach Chris Adams said. "I thought that we executed our game plan well in the first half, and had a 2-0 margin to show for it at halftime. In the second half, we seemed to almost play not to lose and allowed Mercer to gain momentum, where they dictated the way the half was played. All in all, it's probably a fair result against a very good Mercer team, but it almost feels like a loss after being up 2-0."
