Posted: Oct 30, 2011
ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles are the No. 8 seed and will face South Atlantic Conference champion, Lenoir-Rhyne, in the opening round of the 2011 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament, which begins Tuesday.
The Lady Eagles will take on the Bears at 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening in Hickory, N.C. L-R won the only meeting with C-N this season, 2-1 in early October in Jefferson City.
Earning the event's No. 1 seed is SAC regular-season champion Lenoir-Rhyne, which capped off a perfect 9-0 conference season with a 2-1 victory over Tusculum on Saturday.
The Bears were ranked second in the latest NCAA Southeast Region poll and No. 5 in the NSCAA national rankings.
The South Atlantic Conference women's soccer regular season concluded on Saturday. The field is set for the 2011 Food Lion SAC Soccer Championship.
Quarterfinal matches will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday on the campuses of the four higher seeds, with the semifinals and finals then taking place on Nov. 4 and 6 in Rock Hill, S.C.
Wingate ended the regular season at 8-1 in league play, securing the No. 2 seed in the SAC Championship. The Bulldogs were No. 6 in this week's Southeast Region rankings.
Seeding then gets tricky for the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the bracket, as Anderson, Newberry and Tusculum each finished with identical 5-4 records in the SAC. The first tiebreaker criterion of head-to-head record was unable to be used, as all three teams went 1-1 against the other two.
The second tiebreaker measure is record against the bracket's higher seeds. Anderson, Newberry and Tusculum each went 0-2 against top-seeded L-R and Wingate, but the Wolves earn the No. 3 seed by virtue of their win over sixth-seeded Lincoln Memorial – which defeated both AU and TC in the regular season.
With Newberry removed from the tiebreak scenario, Anderson then becomes the No. 4 seed because of its head-to-head win over Tusculum.
Rounding out the SAC Championship bracket are No. 7 seed Catawba and No. 8 seed Carson-Newman.
Lenoir-Rhyne enters the event looking to repeat as SAC Champions, while Wingate will attempt to avenge last season's championship-match loss to the Bears.
2011 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
No. 7 Catawba at No. 2 Wingate – 7 p.m.
No. 8 C-N at No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne – 7 p.m.
No. 5 Lincoln Memorial at No. 4 Newberry – 2 p.m.
No. 6 Tusculum at No. 3 Anderson – 1 p.m. (Tuesday)
