JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Less than 48 hours after claiming the Southeast Region Title, top-seed and second-ranked Carson-Newman will face a familiar foe in their quest for a second appearance in the NCAA Semifinals when fifth-seeded West Florida returns to Mossy Creek on Sunday.
Kick off from Beth and Wayne Harvey Stadium for the NCAA Quarterfinal match is slated for 2 p.m. All three of the NCAA Quarterfinal matches in the program's history have come at home. The Eagles are 2-1 in such games.
On Friday, the Argonauts (17-4-2) grabbed the equalizer in the 85th minute on a penalty kick. After the region final match with Lee University remained scoreless through two overtimes, penalty kicks came into play as the Argos advanced 3-1.
The win for West Florida was their second-consecutive South Region Championship.
The Eagles (19-0-1) trounced the No. 1 offense in the nation by a final of 6-0 which included a hat trick from Magda Mosengo, but the team will have little time for celebration as they hope to have more payback in store this weekend.
"Mags has been unbelievable for us," Coach Simon Duffy stated. "When they focus on Wade, she's right there. When they focus on her, we have Holly and Futrell to step in as well. Still a bit shocked about last night but we have to refocus now for West Florida."
The last matchup between C-N and UWF came back in 2009 where the teams found themselves in a similar scenario, at McCown Field in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
The Argos collected a 2-1 victory over the Eagles and found themselves in the NCAA Championship match two weeks later.
Led by Joe Bartlinski, UWF has the has the seventh best winning percentage of all-time at all NCAA levels and second best among D2 under the 16-year head coach. Bartlinski who holds a career record of 284-48-21 in 16 seasons. He brought the program its first national championship in 2012.
C-N and UWF will meet for the fifth time overall and the third time in the NCAA Championships, as the Argos hold a 3-1 advantage overall.
C-N is 1-1 all-time when facing Gulf South Conference opponents in the NCAA tournament. Both matches have come against West Florida, with the Eagles grabbing a win in the NCAA Quarterfinals in Jefferson City in 2005. A 3-1 victory sent the Eagles to the Final Four.
Four Argos earned all-region honors in the south with Leonie Kreil and Shantell Thompson claiming first-team and Katelyn Burkhart and Deneisha Blackwood on the second team.
Jackie Burns (Cookstown, Northern Ireland), Helen Seed (Preston, England), Lauren Wade (Coleraine, Northern Ireland) and Averi Williams (Powell, Tenn.) collected all-region honors for C-N.
Following the shutout over the Cougars, the sophomore Burns now holds the program record with 24 career clean sheets.
12 of the 17 wins this season for West Florida have come in the form of a shutout. C-N has scored at least two goals in 19 of its 20 games this season.
"The fans were incredible on Friday night," Duffy mentioned. "It really helped our girls and it made the atmosphere really fun to play in. We hope it plays a factor on Sunday as well."
The winner will advance to the NCAA Semifinals held in Kansas City, Mo. on Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.
The 2017 NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional Women's Soccer Championship is hosted by Carson-Newman University. You can visit our Tournament Central page for all information and updates from the semifinal matches last weekend, and all three games for this weekend.
-CN-
