Macon Ga. ? Saturday in Atlantic Sun Conference men's soccer action freshman Fredrik Brustad (Oslo, Norway) scored the first goal of his young career to lead Stetson (3-4-2, 0-1-1) to a 1-1 tie on the road at Mercer (1-5-2, 1-0-1).
Stetson is now unbeaten against Mercer in the past five meetings and holds a 17-10-2 advantage in the all-time series.
The Bears struck first with a goal by Philip Thoren, assisted by Ian Cameron early in the first half (3:21).
Brustad knocked home the equalizer at 24:50 with an assist by Alex Robinson (Deland, Fla.). Robinson delivered a corner kick into the box and Brustad headed the ball to the near corner, past the Mercer goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
“Alex took the corner kick, I stepped back jumped up and gave it my best,” said Brustad. When asked how he felt about picking up his first goal he responded “It is a relief... the hard work is paying off.”
Stetson controlled play for the remainder of the double-overtime contest yet could not come up with a game-winner. The Hatters led the Bears 17-9 in shots and 6-3 in shots on goal. Stetson also had six corner kick opportunities, while Mercer had just two.
Brustad led the team with four shots while Robert Hodge (Devon, England) and Kevin Munz (Jupiter, Fla.) picked up three each. Goalkeeper Marc Galizia (Bradenton, Fla.) finished with two saves in 110 minutes of play.
Tonight's game was the fifth consecutive road contest for the Hatters. Stetson will travel to Fort Myers next Saturday to take on Florida Gulf Coast (7:00 p.m.) before finally returning home for games against Jacksonville (10/17) and North Florida (10/19).
