Mercer loves to tell new students that “Mercer is a small town school with a big school feel.” That statement goes further than just education though. For a school of around 9,000 students, Mercer’s athletic program has grown tremendously, especially since the comeback of football back in 2013. Since the year 2000, Mercer sports teams have won a combined 22 conference championships, (5 in the A-Sun, 3 in the Big South, and 14 in the SoCon.)
Let’s go over the last five Mercer sports teams to hang a banner in their arena for winning a conference title.
- Women’s Lacrosse- Big South Conference 2024
After a season of going 8-0 in conference play and 14-6 overall, Mercer Women’s Lacrosse found themselves sitting on top of the conference winning the regular season title and earning the No. 1 seed entering tournament play. The Bears beat the Longwood Lancers on May 5, 2024, in the tournament semifinals by a score of 23-14. Senior Gabby DiVirgilio and junior Sami Lowinger both scored four goals to lead the Bears and five different Bears scored a hat tricks (3 goals) in the game. Next, was the Big South Conference Championship game against the High Point Panthers. The Bears would go on to win the championship game with the final score being 16-12. Gabby DiVirgilio and Caroline Glus led the Bears in goals tallying four each. This win earned the Bears a bid to play in the 2024 NCAA DI Women’s Lacrosse Tournament where they would play the University of Michigan. The Bears season would end in a defeat against the #5 Michigan Wolverines with the final score being 17-6.
2. Men’s Soccer- SoCon 2023
The Mercer Men’s Soccer team finished the regular season with a 7-6-8 record with a disappointing 1-2-2 record in the conference. Even with that conference record, the Bears earned themselves the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament, the second-lowest seed. The Bears would go on to upset No. 4 seed UNCG in the first round by a score of 3-1 then would go on and yet again get another upset against the No. 1 seed ETSU in the semifinals after getting the win off of penalty kicks. Finally, Mercer would go on to defeat No. 3 seeded Furman shutting them out to go on to win 2-0. Mercer junior Sekou Agard would go on to win tournament MVP and the Bears would go on to secure their fifth NCAA Tournament berth in program history where they would go on to play FIU in the first round where their season would come to an end after losing 1-0.
3. Women’s Basketball- SoCon 2021-2022
Coming off of a championship season where the Bears won their third SoCon championship in four years, expectations were very high. The Bears entered the season at the No. 1 spot in both the coaches and the media preseason poles, and they did not disappoint as they finished the regular season with the best record in the conference earning themselves the #1 seed in the tournament. They finished 23-7 overall and 13-1 in conference with their only conference loss coming to Furman. Mercer was led by their big three senior players Amoria Neal-Tysor, Jaron Dougherty, and Shannon Titus who combined for an average of 38.9 points per game, and star freshman guard Erin Houpt who shot 41% from the three-point line. The Bears dismantled the No. 8 seed Western Carolina Catamounts winning 85-46 then went on to cruz past the No. 4 seed Samford Bulldogs in the semifinals winning 65-35. The Bears faced the No. 3 seed Furman Paladins and the SoCon player of the year Tierra Hodges. Mercer would go on to win the SoCon Conference Championship with the final score being 73-54 and Amoria Neal-Tysor brought home the tournament MVP. Mercer would go on to play in their seventh NCAA Tournament all time and would end up playing #2 seeded UCONN and former NCAA player of the year Paige Bueckers where their season would end in an 83-38 defeat. The Bears roster was loaded with award winners this year with Amoria Neal-Tysor earning first-team all-conference honors, Jaron Dougherty making the conference second team Shannon Titus winning her third straight Defensive Player of the Year award, Erin Houpt winning the Freshman of the Year award and head coach Susie Gardner winning the Coach of the Year award.
4. Baseball- SoCon 2019
Mercer Bears finished the 2019 season with a 35-29 record overall and 14-10 in conference play earning them the No. 4 seed in the SoCon conference tournament. Mercer would play No. 5 seeded Furman in the first round where they would put up 11 runs in their 11-2 victory against the Paladins. In the second round, they would have to battle against the No. 1 seeded Samford Bulldogs. Samford would go on to pitch a shutout against the Bears…but this season was not quite over. Since Mercer was the #4 seed and therefore in the top half of the bracket, they were able to have another opportunity to keep playing on to compete for the championship and play they did. Mercer would go on to play and beat No. 3 seed University of North Carolina at Greensboro 9-5 in the next round then after that they would go on to beat No. 6 seed East Tennessee State University 11-7. Then it was time for the rematch. Since No. 1 Samford lost in the third round Mercer would have to go against them again for a trip to the conference championship game. This time the Bears outmatched the Bulldogs beating Samford in a tight one with the final score being 4-3. Mercer would play second-seeded Wofford in a best-of-three series for the conference championship. Mercer would end up sweeping Wofford after taking the first two games of the series earning the league’s automatic bid to play in the NCAA Tournament. Redshirt Freshman Trevor Austin would earn tournament MVP as he batted 13-27 (.481) while scoring eight runs and having 6 RBIs. Mercer would go on to play Georgia in the first round of the Baton Rouge Super Regional where they would lose 13-3 then would lose again to FAU in the losers bracket 10-6 ultimately ending their season.
5. Women’s Soccer- SoCon 2014
At the end of the 2014 regular season, Mercer Women’s Soccer had a record of 11-6-2 as they headed into the SoCon tournament. Their 3-1-2 record earned them the No. 3 seed. In the first round of the tournament, Mercer would take down No. 6 Western Carolina in the quarterfinals by a score of 2-1 and would go on to defeat No. 2 seed Furman 3-2 in the semifinals advancing them to the conference finals. Mercer would have a rematch against No. 1 seeded Samford who defeated them in the final game of the regular season. Mercer would go on to win the SoCon championship against the rival Bulldogs by a score of 2-1. With scoring coming from Tess Patton (48th minute) and an own-goal by a Samford defender (88th minute) the Bears came out victorious. Mercer would go on to play Florida in the first round of the NCAA tournament where their season would end after a 3-0 defeat to the Gators. The Bears 14-6-2 was the team record for most wins in at season at the time, a record that would soon be broken by the 2019 team that put up a 16-4 record.
For a smaller school, Mercer’s athletic programs have still found ways to win and better yet, become champions. During the 2024 season Mercer Football team had a historic regular season under first-year head coach Mike Jacobs putting up a 10-2 record and winning the SoCon Conference title for the first time in school history. Jacobs also was nominated for national coach of the year. In volleyball, second-year head coach Chad Sutton got the Bears back to their winning ways with volleyball setting the school record for most wins in a season by putting up a 24-5 record while also going undefeated at home. Like football, volleyball also brought home the regular season championship but unfortunately fell short of bringing home their first tournament championship in team history as they fell to Wofford in the 5th set of the tournament championship game. Mercer athletics might not be a household name when it comes to sports but with many new and unfamiliar faces with new coaches and many new players, one thing’s for certain, never count out the Bears.
