JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — Entering its NCAA Division II Tournament second-round matchup with Tusculum, the seventh-ranked Carson-Newman women’s soccer team is riding high after winning its second-straight South Atlantic Conference Tournament.

The top-seeded Lady Eagles (18-2-1) will host the fifth-seeded Pioneers on Sunday at 1 p.m. at McCown Field.

“We are delighted to be the first seed and to have the bye,” C-N head coach Phil McNamara said. “We had a few extra days rest following three games in five days with our success in the conference tournament and getting physically and mentally ready for a big match on Sunday.”

C-N enters the contest on a six-match winning streak, including a 3-1 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne last Sunday in the SAC Championship game. The title is the Lady Eagles’ fourth under McNamara. C-N also won the SAC regular season title, and McNamara believes his team is playing its best soccer of the season.

“We feel like we have reached a real nice level of play,” McNamara said. “We feel like a lot of different players are getting closer to playing their best soccer of the year. That’s one thing that we’ve always achieved here at Carson-Newman is the team peaks at the right time of the year, which is the end of October. That seems to be the case at the moment.”

Tusculum (15-4-3) reached the second round after defeating Newberry, 2-1, on Friday in its first round match at McCown Field in Jefferson City. C-N defeated the Pioneers, 3-1, during their regular season match on Sept. 30.

“(Tusculum head coach) Mike Joy has done a fantastic job over the years at Tusculum,” McNamara said. “They have been one of our main rivals during that time. It’s a great achievement for his team to be where they are this year, being as young as they are and just getting the chemistry right. You can see his team has progressed as the year has gone on.”

If they win on Sunday, the Lady Eagles would advance to Southeast Regional final, where they would face the winner of second-seeded Columbus State and Armstrong Atlantic State on Nov. 20.