MACON, GA. - Mitchell Cardenas scored the game's lone goal in the 84th minute and Campbell defeated Mercer 1-0 Saturday afternoon to stay at the top of the Atlantic Sun Conference men's soccer standings.

The Fighting Camels (5-7-1, 4-0-1 A-Sun) extended their unbeaten string in league regular season matches to 17 (15-0-2) and won at Mercer for the first time since 1997, ending a five-match winless string in Macon (0-4-1) against the Bears.

Through five league matches, the Camels have accumulated 13 points on four victories and one draw. Second-place Stetson (3-1-1) has 10 points through five A-Sun games entering its Sunday match at East Tennessee State.

"I'm proud of our team's ability to keep playing. We possessed the ball very well until the final third of the field, and we need to have a little more conviction in that area," said Campbell head coach Doug Hess. "We played under challenging conditions. The field was heavy, and Mercer is a tough team to break down."

Mercer played the final 29:38 a man down after Thomas Knerr was sent off following a hard foul against Vince Petrasso.

Cardenas' fourth goal of the season came after he controlled a pass from Brian Urioste in the area, then turned and beat Bears keeper Brett Petricek with only 6:30 left in the second half.

"The goal was quality on both parts; Urioste's ability to beat the defender, and Mitchell's composure to bring down the ball in traffic and finish," said Hess.

Campbell keeper Ted Awana had two saves and recorded his second shutout of the season. Mercer's only two shots on goal came in the 59th and 90th minutes.

The Camels finished with a 13-5 edge in shots, 7-2 in shots on goal.

CU also ran its record in Atlantic Sun Conference regular season play to 29-4-5 since the start of the 2005 campaign. The Camels are now October to 16-1-2 in their last 19 matches in the month.

Campbell returns to action Thursday in a 7:00 p.m. kick-off at Stetson.