Hat trick sparks Bears to conference win

Senior Maddie Clark had a hat trick to lead the Mercer women’s soccer team to a 3-2 win over East Tennessee State on Sunday in Southern Conference play.

The Bears improve to 3-6-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference, while the Mocs drop to 6-4-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Mercer travels to Samford on Friday.

While Clark led the offense, Cristina Mursuli had a career-high tying eight saves to anchor the Mercer defense.

The Bears lost to Western Carolina on Friday in their conference opener.

“I was very proud of our players (Sunday) for bouncing back after a hard-fought game on Friday and the disappointment of not coming up with the result,” Mercer head coach Tony Economopoulos said. “Hats off to Maddie Clark for getting a hat trick; you expect that from your leaders. Overall, I’m just excited that we got back on the winning track, and we’re back to even in conference play.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2016 at 7:26 PM with the headline "Hat trick sparks Bears to conference win."