INDIANAPOLIS – In the second installment of the NCAA regional rankings announced on Wednesday, Carson-Newman moved down one spot to No. 10, sitting it as the last team to enter the tournament if it were to begin today within Super-Region 2.
These rankings will be used in order to make the NCAA Tournament field in November. This year, the tournament is moving to a super-regional setup where 10 teams for each of the four super-regions will compete in the first four rounds of action to determine four regional champions.
The top two teams in each region will host first and second round of tournament play from Nov. 21-24 before the third and quarterfinal rounds take place Dec. 5-8.
Teams that make the tournament will be vying for a place in the National Semi-finals at Highmark Stadium on the banks of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pa. on Dec. 12 and 14.
Carson-Newman will be a part of Super-Region 2 where the South Atlantic Conference is aligned with Conference Carolinas, Gulf South Conference Peach Belt Conference and Sunshine State Conference. It is looking to make its first return to the national tournament since the 2015 season. Since 2003, the Eagles have made nine appearances in the tournament.
Coach Stephen Lyons' group is 10-3-2 on the year and leads the conference with a 6-1-2 record. It holds a 10-3-1 clip over in-region sides with a 3-2-1 standing against Division II teams that are above .500. Within the region, the Eagles still possess a 0.504 strength of schedule, the same that they saw in last week's ranking, with a 19.143 performance indicator.
Carson-Newman took to the pitch just once since the initial rankings came out last week, drawing with No. 15 Wingate in Saturday's Senior Night.
The top two teams remain unchanged in the ranking with No. 2 Lynn still leading the way at 11-0-1 on the season and No. 16 West Florida in second at 10-1-2.
Palm Beach Atlantic, the seventh-ranked team nationally, moved up to No. 3 thanks to a 2-0 win over Florida Tech on Oct. 30 while Mississippi College made a substantial jump into fourth after sitting at 10th last week.
No. 23 Florida Tech split went 1-2 throughout the last week, forcing it to slide down to No. 5 after sitting at third in the initial ranking.
Both No. 9 Young Harris and No. 15 Wingate stepped down one spot from last week, now at sixth and seventh in the region, respectively.
Clayton State made its first appearance in the region rankings this season at No. 8. The Lakers are 12-4 on the year but their debut in the ranking comes after a 3-2 overtime victory over then-No. 7 Francis Marion.
Both No. 21 Lander and C-N moved down one spot with the addition of Clayton State to round out the top-10. The Bearcats added two wins onto its record since the last ranking was released, including a massive 7-1 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne on Oct. 29.
Francis Marion and Queens sit just outing of the top-10 at No. 11 and 12, respectively. Francis Marion fell four spots after its loss to Clayton State and also fell out of the national rankings. Queens stayed deadlock in its spot between the rankings with just one added win.
Updated rankings will be released each Wednesday through Nov. 13 leading up to the national selection show on Nov. 18 at 6:30 p.m. EDT.
The Eagles look to try to win a SAC regular season title on Wednesday night as they close out the regular season in a league rivalry match with Tusculum. The contest is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. Tusculum will provide a live stream of the match along with live stats while fans can also following along with @CNathletics on Twitter.
