- J. Andrew Lockwood -
Senior Editor / Columnist
james.andrew.lockwood@gmail.com
In Brad Ruzzo’s first year at the helm on the Bears, Mercer struggled mightily, accumulating a 2-11-5 during the course of the season. With only one conference win against Florida Gulf Coast (4-1) in 2008, a strong group of seniors look to reverse the losing trends of late at Bear Field. Despite losing their best player from last season, Bolade Ogunmade (7 goals, 1 asst), and another key senior Dominic Stockdale (1 goal, 1 asst), the Bears return the rest of the starting lineup from 2008.
Buying into Ruzzo’s team-first philosophy is a core group of four seniors led by Midfielder Arkenson Neckles, a product of Grenada. Neckles finished the year with four goals and nine points despite only starting nine of the fifteen game s in 2008. Thomas Knerr also had a productive season last year as a forward and could have a breakout season in 2009. Chrispine Ong’Ango from Kenya adds speed to the senior class and grinder Geoffrey Oliveria has consistently put in hard minutes when on the field.
Although the Bears offense lacked a punch last year (outscored 37-17 by their opponents), junior Ian Cameron and sophomore Philip Thoren could fill the void for Mercer after showing consistency in matches a year ago. Several other key players including Charles Peterson, Richard Wimsatt, and Zachary Rall have playing experience, but other than the shortlist of upperclassmen, Ruzzo will be forced to rely on a large freshman class. In fact, sixteen freshmen make up the twenty six man roster.
“We will be extremely young this year as many freshmen have a great opportunity to start right away and be thrown to the wolves,” commented Ruzzo. He added, “Some of the freshmen that I expect to contribute right away will be Joey Heavner, Will Betts, and Richie Edmondson to name a few. One major question we will have is in the goal. We have one redshirt freshmen returning and three true freshmen coming in to compete for the starting job.”
At goalkeeper, Mercer will need to replace David Bird who started all eighteen matches for the Bears in 2008. Fortunately, Ruzzo has several keepers to choose from including Daniel Van Valkinburg, Brett Petricek, and Andrew Todd. Van Valkinburg may have the edge on the position going into the season with an extra year of experience on Petricek and Todd.
A glance at the schedule shows another tough slate of competition in front of the club, with 18 regular season games and two preseason exhibitions. However, Ruzzo is excited about a larger than usual home schedule. “This year we have many more home games than in the past by playing a total of 10 games at home, including two exhibitions and five conference games,” Ruzzo commented on MercerBears.com. “In the past, we have only had six or eight home games so we are very excited that we will be at home more often this season,” he added.
The exhibitions against Clayton State and Middle Georgia will provide good warm-up tests for the Bears before they face Alabama A&M at home on September 1st to open the 2009 campaign. Four away contests follow, highlighted by a return to Ruzzo’s old school, Bradley, for a dust-up on September 6th. Mercer then returns home and faces Big South and SoCon foes Gardner-Webb and Georgia Southern before opening up conference play in Nashville against Belmont and Lipscomb. Key A-Sun home games include matchups against ETSU, USC-Upstate, Campbell, Jacksonville, and North Florida before Atlantic Sun Championship play begins in early November.
Ruzzo elaborated on the A-Sun schedule saying, “As always the Atlantic Sun Conference schedule is difficult and highly competitive every game. We had a very productive spring season, finishing 2-0-2, so we are looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead in the schedule.”
Looking at their Atlantic Sun competition, Ruzzo added, “Jacksonville and Campbell have proven over the last few years that they are the programs to beat but any team in this conference can win the regular season and the tournament championship. We look forward to competing for the championship this year.
In addition to the product on the field, the team also has an extensive promotional schedule that features ‘Orange and Black Night’ in the season opener against Alabama A&M, ‘Greek Life Night’ against Jacksonville, and ‘Halloween Costume Night’ against North Florida.
Date Opponent Location Time/Result
8/20/2009 Clayton State
Macon, Ga. 7:00 p.m.
8/24/2009 Middle Georgia
Macon, Ga. 6:00 p.m.
9/1/2009 Alabama A&M
Macon, Ga. 5:00 p.m.
9/4/2009 Eastern Illinois
Peoria, Il 7:00 p.m.
9/6/2009 Bradley
Peoria, Il 8:00 p.m.
9/11/2009 Georgia State
Atlanta, Ga. 7:00 p.m.
9/13/2009 Wofford
Greenville, SC 3:30 p.m.
9/18/2009 Gardner-Webb
Macon, Ga. 7:00 p.m.
9/20/2009 Georgia Southern
Macon, Ga. 5:00 p.m.
9/25/2009 Applachian State
Boone, NC 4:00 p.m.
10/1/2009 * Belmont
Nashville, TN 7:30 p.m.
10/3/2009 * Lipscomb
Nashville, TN 7:00 p.m.
10/8/2009 * ETSU
Macon, Ga. 7:00 p.m.
10/10/2009 * USC Upstate
Macon, Ga. 7:00 p.m.
10/13/2009 Central Florida
Orlando, FL 7:30 p.m.
10/17/2009 * Campbell
Macon, Ga. 4:00 p.m.
10/22/2009 * FGCU
Fort Myers, FL 7:00 p.m.
10/24/2009 * Stetson
DeLand, FL 7:00 p.m.
10/29/2009 * Jacksonville
Macon, Ga. 7:00 p.m.
10/31/2009 * North Florida
Macon, Ga. 7:00 p.m.
11/6/2009 A-Sun Tournament TBA TBA
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