Friday, November 11, 2011

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - Top-seeded FGCU and No. 4 Mercer is the opening semifinal match on Friday at 4 p.m. and is followed by No. 2 Stetson and No. 6 ETSU at 7 p.m.

On Wednesday, Mercer came back from a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat No. 5 Lipscomb, 2-1, to advance to the semifinals, while host-school, ETSU downed No. 3 Jacksonville with two first-half goals from David Haba.

In the regular season, FGCU defeated the Bears, 2-1, in overtime in Fort Myers on a goal by Cristian Raudales, a first team all-conference member. The Eagles won the regular season conference title with a 7-1-0 mark for their second-straight A-Sun title. FGCU makes its first appearance in the conference championship after a four-year transitional period from Division II to Division I.

Stetson and ETSU tied 0-0 in their match this season in Johnson City. The two teams also met last season in the A-Sun Championship Final with ETSU coming away with the 1-0 overtime victory to win the conference title. This will mark the third straight postseason that the two teams have faced off in the A-Sun Championship.

All championship games will be broadcasted for free on ASun.TV.

FGCU vs. Mercer - Championship Notes
• The Eagles are making their first appearance in the A-Sun Men’s Soccer Championship. The last team to win the title in their first appearance was Gardner-Webb in 2006.

• FGCU has won back-to-back regular season titles and has a 16-1 record over those two seasons. The last team to win two regular season titles in a row was Campbell (2008-09).

• The top-seed has advanced to the title game in seven of the past eight championships, but have only captured three of the titles.

• This marks Mercer’s second appearance in the semifinals in three seasons. In 2009, the Bears defeated top-seeded Campbell, 3-1, to advance to the championship final.

• The last four seed to advance to the A-Sun Championship Final was Stetson in 2002. Mercer has reached the fi nal game on seven occasions in the history of the program.

• The Bears are 11-10-1 all-time in the conference tournament and are 2-1 as the four-seed (2003) and have qualifi ed for the past four championships.

Stetson vs. ETSU - Championship Notes
• The Hatters have appeared in every A-Sun Championship from 1998-2011. Their stretch of 14-straight championships is the longest in the conference.

• In the six of the past seven championships, Stetson has earned either the 1 or the 2 seed. Its program record as the two-seed is 5-3, which includes a title in 2005 and 2009.

• The Hatters have reached the Championship Final in four of the last six seasons.

• The six-seed has never reached the A-Sun Championship Final and is 2-11-1 all-time in tournament matches. ETSU is the second-straight six-seed to reach the A-Sun Semifinals (Jacksonville).

• This marks ETSU’s third-straight appearance in the A-Sun Championship. The Bucs are 4-1 all-time.

• ETSU was 6-2-3 at Summers-Taylor Stadium this season including a 3-1-2 record in the past six games.







Follow the Atlantic Sun on Twitter and become a fan on  Facebook.