BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The top two teams in the Big South Conference standings will face off on Saturday, April 29 at 1:00 p.m. at Barker-Lane Stadium for the league's regular season championship, as Campbell hosts Mercer.
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The Camels will be partnering with the
One Love Foundation for Saturday's game. One Love empowers young people with the tools and resources they need to see the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships and bring life-saving prevention education to their communities.
Campbell heads into Saturday's regular season finale at 11-5 overall and 7-1 in Big South play, while league-leader Mercer is 14-2 on the season with an 8-0 mark in conference games. The contest sets up as the Big South regular season title game, with the winner earning either an outright or share of the conference crown, as well as the No. 1 seed in next week's Big South Championship.
Mercer and Campbell, as well as High Point (6-2) and Furman (6-2), are already locked into the four-team tournament, with seeding to be determined with this weekend's results.
Last time out, High Point closed out the Camels with a 3-0 run to end the game, ending CU's school record seven game winning streak with a 15-14 decision. Campbell took a 12-11 lead into the fourth quarter and extended with
Olivia Ohlmann's score off a
Rasa Welsh feed, its third straight goal to go ahead 13-11 with 13:48 to play. After Kay Rosselli stopped the CU run with her second goal of the night, Welsh and Ohlmann connected again with 9:00 to play to restore the two score lead for the Camels.
With 6:53 remaining, Espirit Cha's goal again cut the Campbell lead to one before Mena Loescher's third strike tied it up at 14-all. Mandy Brockamp gave the Panthers the lead for good on the very next possession, notching the go-ahead goal with 2:47 on the clock.
HPU held Campbell off the board for the final 9:00 of game action, forcing seven of the Camels' 15 total turnovers in the fourth quarter to erase its two goal deficit.
For the season, Campbell leads NCAA Division I in both ground balls (21.73) and caused turnovers (14.27) per game, while ranking either first or second in the Big South in 10 team categories.
Individually, Welsh leads Campbell with 73 points, becoming the seventh Camel with 70 or more points in a single season, logging on 34 goals and 43 assists, while
Sam Bischoff has totaled 56 points on 47 goals and nine assists with 67 draw controls.
Joslin Hanbury (31), Heath (31) and Ohlmann (29) have also registered more than 25 goals so far this season.
Defensively,
Rebekah Taylor has registered 33 ground balls with 34 caused turnovers, while
Shae Fitzgerald has tallied 31 caused turnovers with 42 ground balls.
Chandler Stewart also owns a team-best 52 ground balls with 29 caused turnovers.
Mercer has won nine straight since falling to No. 8 Florida 15-6, including Wednesday's 20-4 win over Presbyterian. Shannon Urey leads the Bears with 76 points on 69 goals and seven assists, while Maddie Koury adds 54 points on 26 goals and 38 assists. Emma Pizzo has also registered 36caused turnovers with 41 ground balls.
Campbell leads the all-time series with the Bears 4-2, with Mercer taking the last two matchups, including last season's 18-8 decision in Macon, Ga.
The 2023 Big South Championship is set for May 5-7, to be played at the tournament's to be determined No. 1 seed.
