Video: Simon Duffy Previews Columbus State
Columbus, Ga. – Coach Simon Duffy's squad will be tested for the second time in three days when they face No. 12 Columbus State on the Cougars home turf. Game time for Sunday's matchup is slated for 2:30 p.m. at the Walden Soccer Complex.
The Eagles fell on Friday night to No. 12 West Florida by a final of 2-0 but notably were without starters in Jackie Burns (Coleraine, Northern Ireland) and Catarina Realista (Libson, Portugal) who are away for World Cup Qualifying duties.
"We just tried to get some good sleep last night and get a light recovery session in this morning," Duffy mentioned. "It'll be hot and muggy tomorrow but hopefully we get our legs back under us for a very good Columbus State side."
The Cougars come off a 3-0 win over Embry-Riddle on Friday night in its season opener behind two goals from senior forward Olivia Jarrell and one from sophomore midfielder Kimmy May. Bria Riancho recorded five saves to secure the clean sheet.
Jay Entlich's team comes off a 16-4 season which earned a trip to the Southeast Region title match before being upended by the Eagles falling 6-0. It was the most goals allowed in the match for CSU since 2005 in a 7-3 loss to lincoln memorial. It was also the largest loss since Entlich took over the program in 2004.
Entlich heads into his 15th season at the helm winning the PBC Coach of the year six times while being the fourth-winningest active coach in Division II with a career winning percentage of .770.
"They move the wall very well and are very comfortable with it," Duffy added. "It's a very similar style to how we like to generally play."
The Cougars moved past Flagler in its trip to the 2017 Southeast Region Championship by a final of 3-0. It marked the third time the Cougars dropped No. 19 Flagler during 2017 and a fourth-Consecutive appearance in the Championship game. Columbus State looks to return to the NCAA Tournament for the 13th straight year.
CSU was named the favorite to win the Peach Belt Conference title by the league, collecting eight of the possible 10 first-place votes for 98 points atop North Georgia at No, 2. Three Cougars were named to Preseason All-PBC: Riley Clark (Jr.), Madeline Goodfellow (So.), and Jarrell (Sr.)
C-N Lost the season opener for the first time since 2014. The loss to West Florida is the first regular season loss and no goal game for the Eagles since October 15 of 2016 (Wingate, 1-0/OT). It also marked the first loss to a non-conference opponent since a 3-1 final to Alabama-Huntsville in 2016 on Sept. 6th.
The last time the Eagles lost back-to-back games came during the 2014 season in which they opened up with 5-0 and 6-0 losses to Tampa and Saint Leo. Since the end of that 2014 season that held a 3-14 record, C-N has accumulated an impressive resume going 57-8-2.
The Eagles are 20-14 all-time against Peach Belt Conference Opponents with its most recent win coming against Sunday's foe in the Cougars in the Southeast Region Championship, The 6-0 win was the largest win for the Eagles since a 7-0 win over Coker on Oct. 29 of 2016. The team beat three opponents that year by a score of 6-0 or better, five different times. Magda Mosengo (London, England) tallied three of C-N's six goals en route to the Southeast Region Title.
-CN-
