KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Carson-Newman men's soccer team (2-0) was ranked 10th in the premiere National Soccer Coaches Association of America Southeast regional rankings after opening the 2015 season with a win over 21st-ranked University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers Saturday night.
Junior Poly Avgousti (Paphos, Cyprus), freshman Thibault Mathorez (Graces, France) and senior Lucas Siqueira (Sao Paulo, Brazil) all tallied goals in the Eagles' 3-1 win.
The Eagles are making their first-appearance on the list since last September.
Future foe, Young Harris, highlights the rankings after opening the season with two wins. Limestone is second and South Atlantic Conference member Wingate rounds out the top-three; the Bulldogs picked up a win over Barton and drew 1-1 with Flagler.
Conference Carolina's Pfeiffer is fourth and Clayton State from the Peach Belt is fifth. Lincoln Memorial is sixth after picking up after picking up wins over West Alabama and Montevallo during a weekend trip to the Yellowhammer State. UNC-Pembroke is seventh after also picking up two wins.
Eagles' rival Tusculum placed eighth in the rankings after wins over King and Milligan highlighted the Pioneers' weekend. Francis Marion placed ninth after a win and a draw and C-N rounded out the top-10.
Four future opponents of the Eagles are in the Southeast regional rankings.
The regional rankings determine the participants in the NCAA Tournament's field of 32 teams. The Southeast region gets six berths into the tournament, which is played in November and December. The Eagles' last appearance in the NCAA Tournament came in 2013 when the program reached the National Championship game before falling to Southern New Hampshire 2-1.
Carson-Newman travels to Belmont Abbey for a Wednesday match against the Crusaders at 4 p.m.
1 Young Harris College 2-0-0
2 Limestone College 2-0-0
3 Wingate University 1-0-1
4 Pfeiffer University 1-0-0
5 Clayton State University 1-0-1
6 Lincoln Memorial University 2-0-0
7 University of North Carolina-Pembroke 2-0-0
8 Tusculum College 2-0-0
9 Francis Marion University 1-0-1
10 Carson-Newman University 1-0-0
-CN-