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GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Samford soccer team recently suffered a heartbreaking loss to its program Wednesday with the passing of Shauna Yelton, wife of Samford head coach Todd Yelton. On Thursday, the Bulldogs traveled to the SoCon Tournament where the back-to-back regular-season champions will face the No. 4-seeded Mercer Bears in Friday's semifinal round at 4 p.m. (CST) at Stone Stadium.
 
Yelton, who was named the SoCon Coach of the Year Tuesday for a second straight season, will not be traveling with the team. Shauna's memorial service will be held Saturday at 11 a.m., at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.
 
Assistant Coach Jay Yelton, Todd's younger brother, will lead the team at the 2015 SoCon Tournament.
 
Samford (14-5) heads into Friday's match as a prayerful and reverent team, and will face Mercer (9-7-3), the defending SoCon Tournament champion. Last season, the Bears earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Bulldogs in the championship final of the SoCon Tournament.
 
RECAPPING THE 2014 TITLE MATCH
With less than three minutes to play in regulation and the score deadlocked at 1-1, Mercer's Brianna Stampler looped a high corner kick deep into the box where the Bears' Washida Blackman sent a header towards goal. Blackman's shot attempt was blocked by a Samford defender, but the ball bounced awkwardly off the turf and found the back of the net.
 
The score gave Mercer a late 2-1 advantage with just 2:42 left to play in the championship match of the 2014 SoCon Tournament. In the waning seconds of action, regular-season champion Samford battled hard to equalize the contest, but Ariane Lukens' last-second shot attempt was saved by Bears' goalkeeper Maggie Cropp.
 
The own goal proved to be the difference in last season's title match as Mercer held on for the 2-1 win. With the victory, the Bears earned the championship title of the SoCon Tournament and received the conference's automatic bid to the 2014 NCAA Championship.
 
SAMFORD EARNS REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP
The Bulldogs played to their second straight SoCon regular-season title this season after tallying an 8-1 league record. Samford's lone loss of the 2015 SoCon campaign occurred at Western Caroline on Oct. 25, 1-0. The goal scored by the Catamounts proved to be the only SoCon score allowed by the Bulldogs all season.
 
Samford has been victorious in 10 of its last 11 outings and has outscored the opposition, 29-3, since Sept. 20. The Bulldogs opened SoCon play with eight consecutive wins, including a key 1-0 triumph at Mercer on Oct. 4.
 
BULLDOGS vs. BEARS - - THE LAST TIME OUT
Less than five minutes before halftime in a momentous SoCon road test at Mercer on Oct. 4, Samford's Taylor Borman lifted a high, perfectly-placed shot from 18 yards out that landed neatly into the back of the net for the Bulldogs' game-winning goal en route to a 1-0 league triumph held at Bear Field.
 
Borman's decisive goal occurred at exactly 40:39 into the contest.
 
The Bears outshot the Bulldogs, 13-10, but it was Samford's tally from Borman that proved to be the difference in the rematch of last season's SoCon Tournament championship final.
 
On her scoring play, Borman collected forwarding pass from fellow-junior Olivia Cole, stopped short to allow a Mercer defender to stride by and then rifled a right-footed shot high over the outstretched arms of the Bears' goalkeeper Maggie Cropp.
 
Samford sophomore goalkeeper Anna Maddox turned in a brilliant performance against Mercer. Maddox, the Bulldogs' native of Warner Robins, Georgia, recorded five critical saves and notched her second complete-game shutout victory of the season.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Mercer enters Friday's match with a full head of steam after defeating ETSU in the quarterfinal round of the SoCon Tournament, 3-2, on Saturday. The Bears have been victorious in three of their last four matches and closed out the regular season with a 5-3-1 conference record.
 
After ETSU took a 1-0 lead Saturday, Mercer scored three straight goals to go up 3-1 in the 76th minute. The Bucs cut the Bears' lead to 3-2 in the 85th minute, but Mercer held ETSU off in the final minutes to advance to the semifinals. Cropp made a season-high-tying nine saves, including two on penalty kick attempts by the Bucs.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY
Samford holds an 8-2-2 advantage in the series with Mercer. The Bears and the Bulldogs each recorded a win last season, as Samford won in the regular season, 1-0, and Mercer registered a 2-1 victory in the SoCon Tournament final to win and earn the program's second NCAA Tournament bid.

YELTON - - SAMFORD'S ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACH
Samford's Yelton received his fifth Coach of the Year honor Tuesday. Yelton, the all-time winningest coach in Bulldog history with 175 victories at Samford, now owns a 215-109-36 record throughout his illustrious 18-year career. The Bulldogs own a 14-5 overall record this season and have now reached at least the 12-win plateau in 10 of Yelton's 14 years at the helm.
 
2015 ALL-SOCON HONORS
On Tuesday, Samford's Yelton was named the SoCon Coach of the Year, while Cole was named the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year. The Bulldogs also led the conference with a school-record five players named to the first team.
 
Three-time All-SoCon performer Malcanisha Kelley earned the honor as forward, while Borman received the accolades as a midfielder. Kelley is the school's record-holder in both career goals (27) and single-season goals (12). Borman, the Bulldogs' dynamic native of Georgetown, Kentucky, has scored four goals and added 10 assists this season.
 
Samford's record-setting defense was also well-represented on the first team with defenders Cole and Alissa Hansen, as well as Maddox. Maddox boasts a brilliant 0.60 goals-against average this season and holds a 7-1 record as a starter in 2015.
 
A pair of Bulldogs earned second-team All-SoCon accolades Tuesday in junior forward Jermaine Seoposenwe and junior midfielder Anna Allen. Seoposenwe is currently ranked seventh in the nation with 11 assists this season, while Allen scored Samford's game-winning goal in Saturday's SoCon Tournament quarterfinal victory against VMI.
 
Both Seoposenwe and Allen were named to the Preseason All-SoCon team to begin the 2015 campaign.
 
For a third consecutive season, the Bulldogs boasted two players named to the All-SoCon Freshman team. Samford's Ella Baggett and Kaitlyn Orman were honored with the distinction Tuesday. Baggett has scored two goals and added a trio of assists this season, while Orman has notched three goals and handed out a pair of assists.
 
WIN AND ADVANCE
The winner of Friday's SoCon Tournament semifinal match between No. 1-seed Samford and No. 4-seed Mercer will advance to Sunday's championship final to be held noon (CST) at Stone Stadium located on the campus of Furman University. Sunday's title game will be broadcast live by ESPN3.
 
In Friday's second semifinal contest, No. 2-seed Furman will play host to No. 3-seed UNCG at 6:30 p.m. (CST).
 
For quick score updates, breaking news and links to all of your favorite articles featuring the Bulldogs, please follow @SamfordSoccer and @Samford_Sports on Twitter.

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