GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Sophomore forward Robert Hill (Middlesbrough, England) and senior forward Omar Cooke (Roanoke, Va.) each tallied a second-half goal to rally the 22nd-ranked Carson-Newman men’s soccer team past Tusculum, 2-1, on Wednesday night in South Atlantic Conference action at Pioneer Field.

With the win, the Eagles, who have won seven straight matches, improve to 11-3-1 overall and 6-1 in the SAC. Tusculum falls to 8-5-1 and 4-3 in conference play.

The Pioneers held a 20-18 advantage in shots, while both teams finished the night with 10 shots on goal.

Senior midfielder Anteneh Lemma (Stockholm, Sweden) gave the Pioneers a 1-nil lead in the 17th minute as he curled a shot into the goal. Andres Jarquin (Guatemala City, Guatemala) was credited with the assist.

Tusculum took its one-goal lead into halftime, but the Eagles responded in the second half. Hill collected a pass from sophomore defender Anthony Chiappetta (Morristown, Tenn.) and scored the equalizer from 15 yards out in the 59th minute.

Cooke then scored the match-winning goal in the 65th minute as he took a pass from Hill and fired a shot into the back of the net to give C-N a 2-1 lead.

Eagles junior goalkeeper Jordan Moore (Hendersonville, Tenn.) allowed one goal and recorded nine saves to pick up the win. Tusculum’s Lance Moore (Morristown, Tenn.) surrendered two goals and finished with seven saves in the loss.

The Eagles also jumped to fifth in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Rankings that were released by the NCAA Tuesday. It is the first time this season that C-N has been ranked in the Southeast Region by the NCAA.

Lees-McRae, which is No. 1 in the nation, is first, followed by Anderson (S.C.), Francis Marion and Lincoln Memorial. The rankings, calculated by a mathematical formula, are the official determinant for postseason play at the Division II level.

The conference tournament champion from the SAC, Peach Belt and Conference Carolinas will each be awarded automatic bids to the 2009 NCAA Division II Tournament, while the three remaining highest-ranked teams will receive at-large bids to the postseason.

C-N returns to the pitch on Saturday in a SAC road matchup at Newberry. The match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.