Who: at Mercer When: Saturday, October 22 Where: Macon, Ga. | Betts Stadium Time: 7:00 p.m. Live Stats | ESPN+

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The No. 17 UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's soccer team heads to Macon, Georgia for its second-to-last regular season battle of the season, facing Mercer on Saturday, October 22 at 7:00 p.m.
 
The Spartans moved up to No. 17 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and No. 19 in RPI this week following a 1-0-1 week. The record includes a 1-1 draw to ETSU on senior night and a 2-1 upset over Clemson.
 
RPI RANKINGS

• The Spartans are unbeaten against four teams in the top 40: Louisville (No. 9), SMU (No. 10), Clemson (No. 16), and Elon (No. 33).
• UNCG is the top SoCon team in the rankings, as ETSU is next at No. 141.
• UNCG is the second school from North Carolina in the rankings as Duke is No. 3.

CLIMBING HIGH

• Along with two top-20 rankings in RPI and the United Soccer Coaches, UNCG is also No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches South Regional poll.
• The Spartans are the highest non-ACC school ranked in the region.
• UNCG is also No. 13 in the TopDrawerSoccer poll and No. 19 in the College Soccer News poll.

MIDSEASON HONORS
J.C. Ngando & Marco Milanese were named to the TopDrawerSoccer Midseason Top 100 list.
 
Steven Hernandez (No. 25), Sami Lachekar (No. 71), and Colton Sessoms (No. 88) were named to the TopDrawerSoccer freshman college soccer player rankings.
 
AMONG THE NATIONAL RANKINGS

• 7^th in goal differential (23)
• 10^th in total goals (33)
• 13^th in total points (96)
• 14^th in corner kicks per game (6.86)
• 14^th in team goals against average (0.714)
• 15^th in won-lost-tied percentage (0.786)
• 17^th in scoring offense (2.36)
• 20^th in points per game (6.86)
• 20^th in shot accuracy (0.487)
• 21^st in total assists (30)
• 24^th in assists per game (2.14)
• 24^th in shots on goal per game (6.71)

SPARTANS AMONG THE NATION

• Niclas Wild – 25^th in goals against average (0.769), 30th in goalie minutes played (1170:00)
• J.C. Ngando – 1st in total assists (11), 2^nd in assists per game (0.79), 31st in total points (17).
• Ismail El Harchi – 1^st in shot accuracy (0.680), 13th in game-winning goals (3), 30^th in total goals (7), 31^st in total points (17), 41^st in shots on goal per game (1.38), 43^rd in goals per game (0.54) and points per game (1.31)

AWARDS

• UNCG swept three-straight SoCon Offensive Player of the Week honors and added its fourth and fifth of the season with Ismail El Harchi earning the last two.
  • Steven Hernandez (Sept. 6)
  • Marco Afonso (Sept. 13)
  • J.C. Ngando (Sept. 20)
  • Ismail El Harchi (Oct. 4 & Oct. 11)
• The Spartans had Niclas Wild be named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 20 and Ethan Conley earn the honor on Oct. 18.
• Afonso was also recognized by TopDrawerSoccer.
• Hernandez was named to College Soccer News Team of the Week.

LAST TIME OUT

• UNCG earned its fourth draw of the season with a 1-1 tie against SoCon foe ETSU.
• El Harchi scored his seventh goal of the season.
• Ngando tallied his 11^th assist of the season.
• The Spartans outshot the Bucs 9-5.
• UNCG had seven corner kicks to ETSU's two.

SOCON PRESEASON POLL & AWARDS
UNCG was voted to take the title in the Southern Conference (SoCon) Preseason Coaches Poll after winning the 2021 Regular Season Title.
Release
 
J.C. Ngando, Emmanuel Hagan, Marco Milanese, and Niclas Wild all earned Preseason All-Conference recognition.
 
SCOUTING MERCER

• Mercer enters the game 5-3-6 overall and 1-0-2 in the SoCon.
• The Bears are coming off back-to-back shutouts following a 2-0 win over VMI and a 0-0 draw to Furman.
• Mercer is outshooting its opponents 162-152.
• Dylan Gaither is 15^th nationally in total assists with seven.
• Gaither is leading the team with 17 points (5 goals, 7 assists)
• Kadeem Agard is second with 12 points (4 goals, 4 assists).
• Trevor McMullen has started and played in 10 games in net for the Bears, giving up 13 goals for 1.30 goals against with 28 saves.
• The Bears are second in the SoCon in multiple categories: assists per game, points per game, shot accuracy, total assists, total goals, and total points.

ALL-TIME HISTORY

• UNCG leads the all-time record 11-6-2.
• The Spartans defeated the Bears 3-0 on Saturday, October 2, 2021 at UNCG Soccer Stadium.