Box Score
Updated Samford Stats
SoCon Tournament Bracket

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- It was a victory so nice; Samford fans rushed the field twice. The Bulldogs, behind an early goal from senior Amanda Abbott and a stingy defensive performance Sunday, defeated the Mercer Bears in a thrilling, hard-fought contest in front of 902 boisterous fans to claim the regular-season title of the Southern Conference.
 
Samford's regular season title proved to be its second in four years and its sixth under Head Coach Todd Yelton. The Bulldogs also won the regular-season championship in 2011 and went on to earn a trip to the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
 
"My freshman season, we won conference and it was awesome," said senior defender Katie Danehy. "We went undefeated that year, and this year we had a tough loss in the beginning that took the wind out of our sails for about a day, but then we decided to get back on our horse and get out there and improve. I'm so proud of this team, because we are so young and we've really improved since that day."
 
Following Samford's win Sunday, the Bulldogs' crowd rushed the field to celebrate the championship title with the team.
 
Five minutes later, the officiating crew summoned the fans off the field and declared that 21.3 seconds be placed back on the clock.
 
Samford coaches and administrators then ushered the cheering horde off the pitch and play resumed amidst some contentious circumstances.
 
With seconds waning, Mercer's goalkeeper Maggie Cropp played the ball in from midfield and sent a kick deep into the box. Samford's Olivia Cole then skied high to head the ball out wide on the right flank where sophomore Emily Jones played the pass out of bounds. The Bears' final throw-in attempt proved to be futile.
 
Hence, the Bulldogs were victorious again and Samford's throng of students rushed the field a second time in joyous celebration.
 
"I'm really proud of this group," Yelton said. "They are awesome and they played very hard today against a really tough team in Mercer. They played their hearts out, we played our hearts out and we were lucky to get the only goal and hang on there in the end. This team battled extremely hard out there and that's all I can ask for."
 
With its victory Sunday, Samford (12-7, 7-2 SoCon) finished the regular season with 21 points. Mercer (11-5-2, 6-1-2 SoCon) entered the match undefeated in conference play and as the first-place team in the league's standings. The Bears finished the day with 20 points and as the third-seeded squad in the upcoming SoCon Tournament.
 
The Bulldogs will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament and earned a first-round bye. On Saturday, Samford will play host to the winner of Wednesday's matchup between The Citadel and VMI at 7 p.m. (CDT) at the Samford Track and Soccer Complex.
 
"This was an incredible, hard-fought win," said Danehy. "Mercer came in here undefeated today and we knew they were going to be really hard to score against. We knew that it would be a one or two-goal game at the most. We scored a quick goal early and I was very proud of our backs and Anna Maddox for holding down the fort."
 
Samford's Abbott scored her second goal of the weekend Sunday and it proved to be one of the biggest of her career.
 
Just 4:24 into the contest, Abbott gathered a pretty forwarding pass from sophomore Jermaine Seoposenwe and quickly darted to her right to evade the oncoming goalkeeper. Once juking past Maggie Cropp, Abbott took advantage of the empty net and rifled a shot home to give Samford an early 1-0 lead.
 
"Amanda's goal was fantastic and we had a chance to get another one there to be ahead, 2-0, against a really good squad" said Yelton. "This was not an easy win, for sure, but it is very rewarding. I thought our team grew up a lot today. We are an extremely young team and there were a lot of freshmen and sophomores out there. The transformation of our team has been fantastic this season."
 
Abbott's goal would prove to be the lone score in the Bulldogs' critical victory. On her team-leading ninth goal of the season, Seoposenwe and Ariane Lukens were awarded with assists.
 
Seoposenwe, Samford's talented native of Cape Town, South Africa, leads the team with nine assists and 23 points this season.
 
Samford's true freshman goalkeeper Anna Maddox finished with a pair of huge saves Sunday, while Cropp tallied a match-high five stops.
 
Heading into Sunday's contest, the Bulldogs needed to defeat Mercer and ETSU had to lose on the road at Western Carolina in order to earn the undisputed regular-season title. Western Carolina defeated ETSU, 3-2, at home.
 
Furman and Mercer followed Samford in the standings with 20 points on identical 6-1-2 records. Furman and Mercer tied during the regular season, but the Paladins, the defending tournament champions, took the No. 2 seed by virtue of their 1-0 win over Samford on Oct. 17.
 
Furman, which downed VMI, 5-0, Sunday to vault from fourth in the standings, will host a quarterfinal match on Sunday and awaits the winner of Wednesday's 7/10 matchup between Wofford and Chattanooga.
 
The Terriers earned the No. 7 seed with a 3-6-0 SoCon mark, while Chattanooga went 0-9-0 in league play and took the No. 10 seed.
 
Mercer claimed the No. 3 seed will take on No. 6 seed Western Carolina on Sunday. The Catamounts finished with a 5-3-1 mark and 16 points.
 
ETSU, which boasts the nation's top scoring offense, finished its inaugural SoCon campaign with a 6-3-0 league record for 18 points and the No. 4 seed. Junior Hannah Short scored the Bucs' first goal in a 3-2 loss to Western Carolina on Sunday, pushing her season total to 24, tying the SoCon's single-season record, set in 1997.
 
The Bucs will take on No. 5 seed UNCG on Saturday. The Spartans finished 5-3-1 in SoCon play and earned the tiebreaker over WCU thanks to their 1-0 win over the Catamounts on Oct. 17.
 
The tournament winner earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship.
 
The Samford University soccer team will next be in action Saturday at 7 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs play host to eight No. 8-seed VMI or No. 9-seed The Citadel at the Samford Track and Soccer Complex. VMI and The Citadel will meet in the opening round of play at 2 p.m., Wednesday in Lexington, Va.
 
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Box Score
Updated Samford Stats
SoCon Tournament Bracket