South/Southeast Super Regional Tournament Page
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The 13th-ranked Carson-Newman women's soccer team is appearing in its first NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship Southeast Regional Championship since 2009 and when the Eagles step foot on McCown Field for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on Friday afternoon, C-N's most-frequent postseason opponent will be warming up on the other side of the field.
The top-seeded Eagles (19-2) will face off against the sixth-ranked Columbus State Cougars (19-2-1) in the Sweet 16 at Mossy Creek as the two programs meet for the fifth-time in the NCAA Tournament and third meeting in the Sweet 16. The last meeting between the two sides in the postseason occurred in the 2009 Southeast Regional Championship when C-N scored with less than a second on the clock to move past the Cougars 3-2. The two sides also met in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Columbus State won the 2008 meeting 1-0. Carson-Newman won 2-1 in the 2006 second round, while Columbus State advanced to the 2007 second round by way of a 3-0 win over the Eagles.
"You want to play Columbus State. You want to play Armstrong. You want to play top teams. At Carson-Newman, you want to play these top teams. Every game (for the team), is a rivalry. Right now, we still have the mentality that we are the underdog; we're still going to play like we are the underdog, even though are number one in the region and Columbus is number two," coach Richard Moodie said. "I don't think they understand the magnitude of the rivalry between the two teams. I also have a group of individuals on the field that have never played in the Sweet 16 and have never been to the national tournament. I think they are taking it all in and every team, if we are lucky enough to advance to Sunday, and maybe even after that, every team at this level we expect to be good. We expect them to be a threat.
"I think this could be anybody's game on any given day. We will just keep playing with the same excitement and the same understanding that it's one-and-done now and if we want to keep playing, we've got to keep winning."
Each team earned byes in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and knocked off a Peach Belt team in the second round. Carson-Newman beat Armstrong 3-0 with goals from freshman Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England,), junior Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland) and senior Nikki McWilliams (Saintfield, Northern Ireland) while the Cougars defeated North Georgia 2-1 by scoring two goals in the final 20 minutes of play last Sunday to advance the regional title game.
Carson-Newman and Columbus State each swept their respective conferences' regular season and postseason titles. The Eagles won the South Atlantic Conference titles for the first time since 2009; the Cougars won the regular season for the third-straight year and repeated as Peach Belt Conference Tournament champs.
The Cougars are on a 16-game winning streak that began on Sept. 16th with a 3-1 win over Shorter. Columbus State's last loss came to then top-ranked Rollins 1-0. CSU's other loss came to Tampa, a team that will also play at McCown Field on Friday, when the Spartans knocked off the Cougars 2-1. Last season, Columbus State advanced to the Elite Eight but fell to the Rollins Tars 2-1.
Columbus State swept the Peach Belt's yearly awards with junior forward Nicole Corcione being named the conference's Player of the Year, forward Olivia Jarrell garnered Freshman of the Year honors and coach Jay Entlich picked up Coach of the Year accolades. The Cougars tout the fourth-highest scoring offense in Division II with an average of 3.5 goals per game and have scored the third-most goals with 77. CSU has 57 assists on the year, which is sixth-most. Sixteen Cougars have found the back of the net in 2015.
Corcione was named an All-American last season and has scored 13 goals and contributed 13 assists so far in 2015. She is tied with senior forward Chelsea Person with her 13 assists; the two are tied for second nationally with the 13 contributions. Corcione is second-most on the Cougars' squad with the 13 goals. She was a member of the Peach Belt's all-conference first-team. In her first season with Columbus State, Jerrell ranks 28th nationally with her 14 scores and led the team. The freshman has scored six goals in her last six games, including a score against North Georgia in the Sunday's second round match. Jerrell garnered second-team All-PBC honors. Maylyn Parsons is the Cougars' first-team keeper and has started all 22 games in net and garnered first-team All-PBC honors. She has a 0.79 goals against average this season with 59 saves. Parsons's has the nation's 47th-best goals against average with 0.79 goals allowed per game.
"Unbelievable team. They have some talented individuals on the field and a lot of depth on the squad. I don't think we need to do anything special; it's the Sweet 16 of the national tournament. In very game now, there needs to be a little extra bit of effort every time we step on the field. We were fully committed to going out and giving a 110 percent against Armstrong," Moodie said. "For Columbus, there is quality all over the field. There is not that one number on the field we are watching out for. I know they have a few individuals that are pretty special, but they are all quality players."
The Eagles enter the contest with a 12-match win streak and will counter with the 18th-best scoring offense in the nation and the nation's 17th-highest leading goal scorer in Herrity. Carson-Newman averages 19.3 shots per game and have totaled 405 shots in 2015.
Freshman goalkeeper Jessica Fraiture has set numerous school records and has the nation's 32nd-best goals against average by conceding just 0.72 goals per game. Since facing Lees-McRae on Sept. 30th, Fraiture has conceded just six goals in 14 matches; the freshman net-minder is currently riding a school record five-match shutout streak.
Herrity leads C-N with 16 scores on the year, while freshman Varin Ness (Sogndal, Norway) has tallied 11 goals. Freshman Heida Ragney (Akureyri, Iceland) leads the team and the South Atlantic Conference with eight assists.
"Offensively, I think the challenge is going to be exciting for the team. I think it's going to be a tough team. It's not like the usual kind of conference game for us," Moodie said. "We've done some homework and been watching a lot of their games, just like they've been watching a lot of ours. No team, thus far, has stopped my girls from scoring goals and I don't think we are nervous. We're not worried and we're not scared. I think we go out, we have a bunch of individuals who are good for scoring goals from all over the field. We're good on set pieces. We're good in the run of play. We've got a lot to offer on the field."
Carson-Newman and Columbus State kickoff at 2:30 p.m. from McCown Field with the match being broadcasted on the Eagle Sports Network. The winner will advance to face the winner of the Barry and Tampa match on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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