NOTEPAD: Mercer men’s soccer ties No. 3 UNC, Macon high school volleyball wraps up

The Mercer men’s soccer team went on an impressive run last week, earning a 0-0 draw against No. 3 North Carolina Sept. 24 before snagging a 3-0 win over Air Force at home Saturday.

The stunner in Chapel Hill served as an example of the Bears’ great defense so far this year, as keeper Trevor McMullen notched his sixth shutout of the season in goal to keep Mercer level with the Tar Heels. 

While North Carolina outshot the Bears 17 to six — they also led with four shots on goal to Mercer’s one —
McMullen paired with defenders Natnael McDonald, Sekou Agard and Woodi Pondeca to keep the Tar Heels off the board.

North Carolina went to 5-0-3 after the draw.

Mercer parlayed the stellar performance against a nationally-ranked opponent into a nice 3-0 home victory over Air Force, which saw the Bears score all three goals in the second half on the way to a dominant win.

Segun Afolabi easily shone brightest against the Falcons, needing only two shots to score two goals while also adding an assist for Mercer’s third score. Reigning Southern Conference Freshman of the Year Barzee Blama hammered that shot home.

McMullen also made three saves to put up another shutout effort in goal, his seventh such game of the year, a nation-wide high water mark. The win moved Mercer to 4-2-4 on the year.

After a Georgia Southern game was canceled, Mercer will open its SoCon schedule against No. 21 UNC-Greensboro Saturday before playing Georgia State away Tuesday.

Mercer women off to perfectly even Southern Conference start

The women’s team opened SoCon play earlier this month, tying Furman 1-1 before losing to Western Carolina and defeating East Tennessee State to start with a balanced 1-1-1 conference mark.

The draw featured the Bears and Paladins nearly matching in shots. Furman scored just about 14 minutes into the game, while Mercer waited to equalize until netted one in the 69th minute. 

The loss, a 1-0 defeat to the Catamounts, was a tough one. Western Carolina simply outshot the Bears, the 23-14 margin being too much for Mercer to make up. Even keeper Lindsay Bell’s six saves weren’t enough, as the Bears offense could not make noise.

The ETSU win was a much-needed 2-0 result, as star Bears sophomore Larkin Thomason struck twice for her 10th and 11th goals to lead the way to a victory. The Arizona native has been a revelation in the scoring department for Mercer, often a nice 1-2 punch with Bell’s goalkeeping to set the Bears up for success.

Mercer hosted Chattanooga Thursday and now takes on VMI at home Sunday before hitting the road against
UNC-Greensboro Oct. 11.

High school volleyball season wraps up

The volleyball regular season is near its end, and some interesting region decisions still remain for the GHSA.

As for the GHSA side of things, most Macon schools are in an area together thanks to a limited number of teams. Most of those squads — the likes of ACE, Central, Northeast and Southwest — are trying to chase down Lamar County.

The Trojans are a spotless 9-0 in 1A Area 2, not to mention a still pretty-clean 18-4 overall. The Gryphons are the closest Area 2 squad to the Trojans, as they’ve gone 6-1 in area play, but ACE’s overall record of 15-14 tells the story of the talent gap with Lamar County.

The next closest teams in Macon GHSA volleyball are Northeast (5-9 overall), Central (10-9 overall) and Southwest (1-8).

Westside and Rutland sit at the bottom of the challenging 2A Area 2; the Seminoles are 2-13, while the Hurricanes are 4-18. Similarly, that area has been dominated by one team — in this case, typically dominant Morgan County has found another sport to exceed at, as the Bulddogs’ volleyball team is a whopping 29-2 so far.

Howard, alone in 3A Area 1, has struggled. The Huskies are sixth out of seven 3A Area 1 teams, beating out only Peach County. West Laurens controls that region with a perfect 10-0 mark against area foes and a 22-12 record overall.

GHSA playoffs begin Oct. 15.

Macon’s GIAA teams polished off their seasons last week, with the Stratford Eagles taking home region title honors as the regular season wrapped up.

The Eagles finished 18-7 overall and 7-1 against its GIAA Region 6-3A foes, just edging out Piedmont Academy’s 6-2 record in the region. The other three larger Macon private schools rounded out the region, with FPD (4-4 in the region), MDS (3-5) and Tattnall (0-8) behind those top two teams.

The record tells part of the story, but Stratford’s 23 sets won to just four sets lost tells the rest of the tale as playoffs approach.

The GIAA playoffs begin next week with top four seeds hosting before the tournament moves to Heritage School in Newnan for the championships, according to the
GIAA website.