JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The 2014 Carson-Newman men's soccer squad has compiled its 2014 schedule complete with three teams that made runs in last year's postseason.
"The men's schedule," Carson-Newman head soccer coach Richard Moodie said, "starts really, really strong. We'll be playing some of the top teams in the nation."
St. Leo made a three-match run in last year's postseason finishing 13-2-2 overall after losing in penalty kicks to West Florida in the Sweet 16.
The Lions lost 2-1 at Rollins in regular season. Six weeks later in its first postseason match, St. Leo defeated Rollins 4-3 in double overtime. All three of the Lions' postseason matches went into double overtime.
The Eagles defeated Rollins 2-1 in the program's first ever trip to the Final Four.
The University of Tampa is another addition to the Eagles' 2014 schedule. In regular season, Tampa lost 2-3 to Rollins after two overtime periods.
After returning home from Tampa and St. Leo, the Eagles head to Wingate for a rematch after last season's unfortunate turn of events. Despite taking a one goal lead in the first five minutes, C-N dropped its home opener to Wingate last year 2-1. The Bulldogs scored each of their goals on set plays after a stoppage of time: one after an Eagle injury, and the other when the field lights turned back on after an outage.
Fellow SAC members Anderson and Queens also made an appearance in last year's national tournament. In regular season, C-N defeated Queens 2-1.
The Royals were knocked out of the NCAA tournament by Lander 2-1; the Eagles eliminated Lander the following round in penalty kicks to advance to the Final Four.
"We want to qualify for the SAC tournament," Coach Moodie said, "preferably host the first round."
The Lads won 3-2 in overtime at Anderson in regular season; C-N then toppled the Trojans 3-2 in the first round of the national tournament.
Carson-Newman will play Anderson for its 2014 senior night Nov. 1.
"The men want to go back to the national tournament," Coach Moodie said. "We have big dreams, big goals, and we think we've fielded the team that can get us there."
The Eagles kick off their upcoming term with three home preseason matches. The first is against Tennessee Wesleyan followed by the University of the Cumberlands and an inner-squad scrimmage.
"We're hoping," Coach Moodie said, "to start back up where we left off."
The 2014 men's soccer season is composed of 20 contests, 11 home matches, five home conference games, eight new signees, at least seven different nationalities, and 33 lads with one goal: to return to the national championships.