JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Entering the NCAA Tournament with its highest-seeding since 2009, the three-seed Carson-Newman men's soccer team (15-2-2) will face the sixth-seed Limestone Saints (15-4) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at the Young Harris Soccer and Lacrosse Complex in Young Harris, Ga.
The Southeast region's second-seed Young Harris is the host of the regional and awaits the winner of the match in Sunday's second round.
The 2015 first round match is a rematch of the 2013 second round match in the NCAAs that was played on Limestone's home pitch in Gaffney, S.C. The Eagles were the five-seed and the Saints were seeded one in the Southeast region on that occasion. Senior Sindre Welo (Trondheim, Norway) scored the first goal of the game in 29th-minute. After Limestone equalized early in the second half, goals from Jake Fielder and Ross Frame pushed C-N to a 3-1 win and into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2004. Before its loss to the Falcons, Limestone had won ninth-straight contests.
Carson-Newman's last match ended in a 3-3 draw against Queens (N.C.) in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament semifinals last Friday but fell to the Royals 5-4 in penalty kicks. The Saints fell to the nation's top-team, Pfeiffer, 3-0 in the Conference Carolinas championship game last Sunday in their last contest; Pfeiffer earned the region's top-seed and is the host of the other Southeast regional.
"To be number three in the region is fantastic, especially considering the quality of opponent that are in the top-six. The goal for us as a program is to make sure we are in and about the regional rankings. It seemed once we got in, we kind of stayed," coach Richard Moodie said. "We got as high as number two with the possibility of hosting, but I think, at this level, you've got to be able to beat anyone, anywhere at any time of the day. We're just glad we get a go at it."
The Eagles are 6-8-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and have made three appearances in the Sweet-16. C-N has advanced to the Elite Eight three times in 2003, 2004 and 2013 and the Final Four once. Carson-Newman made seven-consecutive appearance in the NCAAs from 2003-09. C-N is the three-seed for the third time; the Eagles have been the top-seed once in 2005 and the second-seed in 2004.
This season, C-N touts the 16th-highest scoring offense with an average of 2.68 goals per game and have handed out the 12th-most assists with 42. The Eagles' 16.3 shots per game ranks 31st in the nation.
Carson-Newman is led in scoring by junior Tom Read (London, England) who has eight goals and 16 assists. The junior's 16 assists leads the nation. Welo leads the Eagles' with nine goals on the season. Junior Marius Staalby (Trondheim, Norway) is tied with Read for the second-most goals with nine. Freshman Thibault Mathorez (Graces, France) returned to the pitch for the first time in three weeks against Queens by playing seven minutes in the second overtime period. Mathorez has five goals and assist during his debut season. Senior defender James Ward (Trine Cornwell, England) joined Read, Welo and Mathorez on the SAC's first-team; Staalby was a second-team All-SAC selection.
Prior to the Queens match, C-N had gone seven matches in which the team did not concede more than one goal. During that stretch, only three shots found the back of the net.
"This year, I don't think we've been beaten. Our record is 15-2-2, but I don't think any team has beaten us; I think we've lost games. If you look at the two ties to Aiken and Queens and the two losses, Anderson (S.C.) and L-R, we lost those games," Moodie said. "It's important we realize we are in control. The Queens game, we just didn't show up in the first 20 minutes and we paid the price, but you have to be complimentary of the players; we fought to the last minute. We got three goals back on what seemed to be a bad day, but even on bad days, we are scoring three goals."
Limestone is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight season and fifth all-time. The Saints own a 1-4-1 record in the Big Dance with the program's lone win coming last season against Wingate in a 1-0 result in the tournament's first round. Limestone fell to Young Harris, the host of this weekend's regional, 3-1 in the second round.
The Saints have the nation's 12th-highest scoring offense with an average of 2.84 goals per game and average 17.32 shots per game, which ranks 17th in the nation; 8.26 of Limestone's 17 averaged shots land on frame. The Blue and Gold have scored the 11th-most goals in Division II with 54 scores.
The Saints are led in scoring by Gui Machado who has 14 goals while Harry Cooksley has 11 scores and eight assists. Machado's 14 scores is the 16th-most in Division II. Jorge Salvat leads the team with 11 assists was the second-most in Conference Carolinas and ranks 14th in the nation. Senior goalkeeper Tom Godfrey has started every match in goal for Limestone in 2015. Godfrey has a goals against average of 1.38 and a save percentage of .638. In 2014, the senior net minder was named first-team NSCAA All-Southeast region and garnered first-team All-Conference Carolinas's accolades in 2015.
Midfielder Tyler Agiovlassitis, midfielder William Picoux and defender Lalaina Randriamanantena joined Macado, Cooksley and Godfrey on the conference's first-team. The Saints' six first-team selections led Conference Carolinas.
"They've got a lot of boys producing assists all over the field. For us, I think it's important we don't get caught up in the opposition. Every team we play at this level is going to be good; they are going to have good players and strengths and weaknesses. We have to make sure we show up. We've got to minimize mistakes and we can limit every mistake on the field and take advantage of all the positive things we've got going this year. We could spend all day breaking down the players they've got," Moodie said. "It's important we get back to where we were and making it difficult for teams to score on us and capitalizing on chances. We know we are in the one-and-done portion of the season, so it's all-or-nothing for us."
C-N leads the series record 2-0 with the win in 2013 and a 2-0 win during the 1997 regular season at McCown Field. The Eagles are 12-4 against teams from Conference Carolinas since 2010 and 3-0 in 2015 from opponents in the conference with wins over Belmont Abbey, Lees-McRae and King (Tenn.).
Carson-Newman and Limestone will square off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 3:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon at the Young Harris Soccer and Lacrosse Complex in the Peach State.
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