JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The defending South Atlantic Conference Champion Carson-Newman women's soccer team starts off the 2016 season on the road against the Trevecca Nazarene Trojans on Thursday evening at 5pm.
The Eagles won the SAC regular season and postseason titles last year for the first time since 2009, their fifth overall. They compiled a 19-3 overall record and earned a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament before falling to Columbus St. in the Sweet 16.
Last year, C-N opened the slate by hosting the Trojans and knocked them off 2-1. Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England) scored the winning goal in the 86th minute, her first collegiate tally.
Carson-Newman led the SAC in goals last season with 55 and they return their top two goal scorers and point getters in senior Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland) and sophomore Varin Ness (Sogndal, Norway). Herrity earned recognition as the SAC Player of the Year in 2015 after tying for second in the conference in goals with 16 and racking up 32 points, second most in the league. Ness's 12 goals, five assists and 29 points were all fifth most in the SAC and helped her garner Freshman of the Year honors in the conference.
Herrity and Ness were both named preseason first-team All-SAC, along with sophomore midfielder Heida Ragney (Akureyri, Iceland) and senior fullback Megan Peterson (Parrish, Fla.). Ragney led the conference with eight assists last season while Peterson topped all Eagle defenders with three goals and eight points. Senior fullback Elissa Lane (Knoxville, Tenn.) and sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Fraiture (Hebron, Ky.) were named to the preseason second-team.
Trevecca Nazarene is coming off a season in which they went 9-7-3 overall and 7-5-2 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. That conference record landed them in fifth place. The Trojans dropped their opening postseason contest, losing to Cedarville University in the GMAC quarters, 2-1. This year, they have been ranked fourth in the preseason coaches poll.
The Trojans had five players accumulate double digit points last season and they bring back four of them, including juniors Diana Corzine and Courtney Dyer. Corzine and fellow junior Lauren Winters each posted six assists, which tied for 10th most in the conference.
Trevecca Nazarene has been an especially tough team at the Trojan Soccer Complex, where they posted a 7-1-2 mark in 2015 and they are 14-2-3 over the last two years at home.
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