JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman women's soccer team (7-2, 4-1 SAC) will look to rebound from its first South Atlantic Conference loss of the season with a trip to face the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters (3-3-3, 1-2-2 SAC) Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. at LMU Soccer Complex in Harrogate, Tenn.
The Eagles enter the contest following a 2-1 loss to the Anderson (S.C.) Trojans when Anderson tallied two goals in 28 seconds. Lincoln Memorial lost its last contest 2-0 to Wingate on Sunday afternoon.
Carson-Newman enters the contest in a tie with the Trojans for second in the SAC with 12 points, while Lincoln Memorial is ninth in the conference with five points.
Carson-Newman will look to rebound from its second loss of the year the same way the Eagles did after losing to Ohio Dominican 2-1. Following the loss to the Panthers, C-N knocked off then No. Lenoir-Rhyne 3-2 in double overtime to start a five-game win streak that was snapped by Anderson.
The Railsplitters' lone conference game on the roast at Brevard to open the SAC slate with a 1-0 win. Since then, LMU has tied Queens and Tusculum and lost to Lenoir-Rhyne and Wingate.
LMU is third in the SAC with 27 goals, but that is a deceiving stat. The 'Splitters tallied 18 goals last Wednesday against the Hiwassee Tigers. The Tigers are a first-year program that plays in the NAIA ranks and have conceded 46 goals in eight games and has not scored in the program's history.
Claire Leasure, Hanna Ratliff and Olivia Thompson each have four goals on the year for Lincoln Memorial to lead the team. Leasure leads the team with 11 points on three assists. Preseason second-team All-SAC forward Michelle Hunter leads the team with 29 shots. The Railsplitters have used three goalkeepers during the 2015 campaign with Kathryn Lundy garnering the majority of minutes. Lundy possesses a 1.30 goals against average, while the second-team keeper Kayla Stephens has a goals against average of 1.88. Lundy has corralled 39 saves on the year.
The Eagles are 12-7-1 all-time against LMU, but dropped the 2014 contest 4-3 in double-overtime at McCown Field after Fernanda Miaci tallied the game-winner in the 109th-minute. The Eagles' last win came in 2013 in Harrogate after a Gabrielle Gianeselli (Knoxville, Tenn.) blast from 25 yards out beat the 'Splitters keeper in the 98th-minute to give C-N a 3-2 overtime victory.
The Eagles and Railsplitters kick off at 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon from the LMU Soccer Complex in Harrogate.
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