The Stetson men's soccer team had to hold off the charging Mercer Bears coming down the stretch to earn its fourth consecutive victory. Although the Hatters controlled the pitch for most of the match, a red card issued at 71:52 gave Mercer a second wind.
Stetson opened up the scoring at 24:51 of the first half when junior Kirk Labusch took a cross by senior Tanner Wolfe and chipped a spinning chip shot over the Mercer goalkeeper. It was the second goal of the season for Labusch and the third assist for Wolfe.
Just six minutes later Stetson went up 2-0 when sophomore Set Carpintero elevated and volleyed a shot into the back of the net. It was the first goal of the season for Carpintero - Tanner Wolfe picked up his second assist of the night.
Stetson went into the half with a lead and a 5-2 advantage in shots. The momentum they worked so hard to achieve disappeared at 71:52 of the second half when the Hatters' Victor Webb was issued a red card for improper language and the team had to play a man short. From that moment on Mercer had new life and Stetson was on its heals.
“A 2-0 lead is one of the most dangerous leads in soccer. We seemed to get into a rhythm midway through the first half”, said Hatter Head Coach Logan Fleck. “After going a man down we had to focus on the defense.”
Five minutes after the red card Mercer scored an unassisted goal off a free kick by Vincente Arze. It was rising shot that sailed just over the outstretched fingers of Hatters goalkeeper Evan White and just under the cross bar.
“Evan and our back four did a great job in sustaining the pressure”, said Fleck
Stetson held off the Bears coming down the stretch to hang on for the win. It was a hard-fought, physical match that saw the teams combine for 32 fouls and nine cautions. The Hatters finished with a 7-5 advantage in shots.
“We need to work on increasing our match maturity in order to be successful in our conference and beyond”, said Fleck. "We will need to regroup and play a very talented Campbell team this weekend.”
With the win the Hatters, ranked #6 in the south region, built their record to 5-2-0 overall and 1-0-0 in A-Sun Conference play. Mercer fell to 4-5-0 overall, 0-1-0 in the A-Sun. Stetson will host the Campbell Fighting Camels Saturday night, 7:00 p.m. at the Stetson Soccer Complex.
