JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Sept. 30, 2012) -- Ehjayson Henry netted his first two goals of the season to lead Mercer past the ETSU men's soccer team, 2-1, in the Bucs' A-Sun opener on Sunday at Summers-Taylor Stadium.

ETSU (4-5-1, 0-1-0 A-Sun) outshot Mercer (6-3-1, 1-0-0 A-Sun) 19-4 through the game, but managed just a single goal from Luis Calzadilla (Caracas, Venezuela) at the beginning of the second half. Henry put the Bears ahead midway through the first half, and responded with the game-winner three minutes after Calzadilla's equalizer.

Ten different Buccaneers took shots on the afternoon, with David Geno (Kingsport, Tenn.), Nate Hodges (Meridan, Miss.) and Henrique Novaes (Vinhedo, Brazil) all firing a game-high three attempts. The only Bear to take more than one shot was Henry, who scored on both of his attempts to drop ETSU in its A-Sun opener for the second year in a row.

“It’s a disappoing result for us, especially being that is was a conference game,” ETSU head coach Scott Calabrese said. “I thought we played very well after the first 20 minutes. We controlled the game, created a lot of chances, but some momentary lapses in concentration and some poor decisions allowed Mercer to capitalize on the chances they had.”

Henry put in Mercer’s first goal of the afternoon on the team’s first shot of the game. Brady O’Brien sent in a corner from the far side, that Ashani Samuels headed in the air to Ryan King on the near side. King sent a cross through from out wide, and Henry was there just a couple of yards in front of goal to give the Bears the lead.

The Bucs threatened with nine shots in the first half, but came up empty to go into the break down a goal.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Calzadilla pulled through on his third goal of the year to level the score. Junior Blaike Woodruff (Georgetown, Texas) passed the ball off to Calzadilla a few yards outside the top-right part of the box, who blasted a shot across Greg Ranjitsingh in goal to even the score on ETSU’s first attempt of the half.

That lead was held for less than three minutes, before Henry put Mercer back on top on the Bears only shot of the half. Henry gained possession in a dangerous area inside the left half of the ETSU box, and used some great combination play with Sharpe Sablon to spring himself free and send a shot through the legs of ETSU keeper Ryan Coulter (Dublin, Ireland).

The Bucs put eight more shots at Ranjitsingh through the remainder of the game, who wound up with six saves on the afternoon. Dalton Guzman (Knoxville, Tenn.) made one final attempt with seven seconds remaining, but Ranjitsingh was there to stop it as ETSU could not find the back of the net in the second half despite a 10-1 edge in shots.

The Bucs will hope for better luck next weekend, when they welcome North Florida and Jacksonville to Summers-Taylor Stadium on Friday and Sunday.

ETSU Notes

- Ryan Coulter made one save, moving his career total to 105 and becoming ETSU’s all-time saves leader.

- ETSU has lost its A-Sun opener each of the last two years, with its only win in a conference opener coming against Campbell in 2010.

- Luis Calzadilla’s goal was his third of the season, while Blaike Woodruff’s assist was his third of the season.

- ETSU is winless in its last five games, going 0-4-1 with a draw last Thursday to No. 25 Furman.

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For more information on ETSU men's soccer, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's soccer links.

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