No. 1 seed UNCG and No. 3 seed Mercer each won semifinal matches at the Southern Conference Men’s Soccer Championship on Sunday and will face off in the championship final on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m. ET at the UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina.

In the regular-season matchup, the Spartans defeated the Bears, 1-0, on Oct. 22 in Macon, Georgia.  

The match will be the first championship between the Spartans and Bears since 2019, with 2021 SoCon champion Mercer making its second consecutive appearance and UNCG making its first appearance since 2020-21.

No. 1 UNCG 6, No. 5 Furman 3

GREENSBORO, N.C. – After falling to former SoCon member Belmont in the championship semifinal last season, No. 1 seed UNCG defeated the No. 5 seed and will play in the 2022 SoCon men’s soccer championship following a 6-3 victory over Furman on Sunday evening at the UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.

The Spartans secured their 12^th win of the season and advance to the championship matchup against Mercer after three first-half goals by Emmanuel Hagan, Marco Afonso and Basile Marc and three second-half goals by Afonso and Maycol Reyes, helping the Spartans to their first championship appearance since 2020-21.
 
UNCG got on the board first after Hagan fired a left-footed shot into the bottom left side of the net in the 14^th minute to hand the Spartans a 1-0 lead before Afonso added his own goal in the 24^th minute to extend UNCG’s lead to 2-0. The Spartans added their third goal five minutes before halftime following a Marc penalty kick into the bottom left side of the net to give UNCG a 3-0 advantage in the 40^th minute of the contest.

Furman attempted a comeback in the second half, as forward Jake Raine opened the half with a goal in the 54^th minute to bring the score to 3-1 before UNCG’s Reyes answered a minute later with a shot into the top left side of the net for the 4-1 lead. Raine cut the Paladin deficit to two goals after netting a right-footed goal into the bottom left side of the net in the 58^th minute, but UNCG struck back in the 69^th after Afonso found the net for his second goal of the match.
 
Slade Starnes added the third and final Paladin goal after connecting with Tommy Redhead’s go-ahead pass in the 75^th minute to fire a shot in the bottom center of the net for the score, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback, as Afonso completed his hat trick in the 78^th minute of the contest to seal the win.

In total, UNCG finished with 23 shots, while Furman totaled nine. Ben Roberts, the Paladins’ goalkeeper and September’s SoCon Defensive Player of the Month, finished with six saves, while Spartan goalkeeper Niclas Wild, who shared SoCon Goalkeeper of the Year honors, completed the match with three.

With the win, UNCG improves to 12-1-4, while Furman finishes its season at 7-7-4.

No. 3 Mercer 1, No. 2 ETSU 0

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – No. 3 Mercer clinched a 1-0 shutout win over No. 2 seed ETSU at the Bucs’ Summers-Taylor Stadium on Sunday afternoon after Mercer midfielder and first-team all-conference selection Dylan Gaither netted the lone goal to advance Mercer to the Southern Conference Men’s Soccer Championship final.

Gaither handed the Bears an early 1-0 advantage after firing a right-footed shot into the top right of the net in the 17^th minute, while the Bears’ defense kept the Bucs scoreless for the remainder of the contest to seal the win.

ETSU outshot Mercer 8-6. Bears goalkeeper Trevor McMullen recorded four saves in the shutout, his third of the season, while ETSU goalkeeper Cole Hunter, who shared SoCon Goalkeeper of the Year honors with UNCG’s Wild, saved two shots in the loss.

The appearance in the championship final is Mercer’s second in two years, as it downed No. 4 seed Belmont in the 2021 SoCon Championship to clinch their first SoCon title since 2019 and their fourth since entering the league.
 
Mercer, who was selected second along with Furman in the preseason coaches poll, improves to 8-4-6 with the win. The Bucs’ season concludes at 8-6-3.