Mercer wins Southern Conference soccer title on penalty kicks

Max Poore scored the game-winning penalty kick as Mercer knocked off East Tennessee State on Saturady to win the Southern Conference men's soccer tournament and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The second-seeded Bears and top-seeded Bucs were in a scoreless tie after regulation and both overtimes, and won 4-1 in penalty kicks at UNC Greensboro.

Mercer's Nickolas Tripodi and ETSU's Serge Gomis both made the first penalty kicks. Then Mercer's Trenton Whitely's shot was good, but ETSU's Joe Pickering missed his kick toward Mercer goalkeeper Jeremy Booth, who made the save on the way to becoming the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

The Bears' Airrion Blackstock was good against keeper Jonny Sutherland, and the Bucs missed again, off the crossbar

Up came Poore, a senior from Woodward Academy, and Sutherland guessed wrong as Poore’s shot rolled down the middle to put the Bears into the NCAA Tournament. It is Mercer's first Southern Conference men's soccer title, and first conference tournament trophy since taking the A-Sun tournament in 2001.

The win also avenged to losses to ETSU during the season, 2-0 and 3-2. It was the first time since 2013 that the conference tournament needed more than regulation.

Mercer improved to 13-6-0 while ETSU fell to 12-4-3.

This story was originally published November 12, 2016 at 9:26 PM with the headline "Mercer wins Southern Conference soccer title on penalty kicks."