VIDEO: Richard Moodie Interview
VIDEO: Jacqueline Burns Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Lauren Wade (Coleraine, Northern Ireland) and Heida Ragney (Akureyri, Iceland) scored goals and Jacqueline Burns (Cookstown, Northern Ireland) tied a South Atlantic Conference record with her 12th shutout of the season as the Carson-Newman women's soccer team blanked the Catawba College Catawba Indians on Tuesday night at McCown Field at Harvey Stadium in the first round of the SAC tournament.
With this victory, the second seeded Eagles move on in the SAC tournament semifinals to face the sixth seeded Anderson (S.C.) Trojans, who defeated the Tusculum Pioneers in their quarterfinal.
"It's a great feeling," coach Richard Moodie said. "I think the better team won tonight. We get to survive and advance. It's always great to be a part of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament. We've just got to keep going. I think the girls did a good job. Heida Ragney stepped up, good leadership today, Helen Seed (Preston, England) on the back line. It seemed like everyone was chipping in."
Both teams had chances in the first half, but they all went by the boards in a first 45 minutes that ended scoreless. In the tenth minute, Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England) nearly converted a chance off a corner kick, but Shannon Hardy made a diving stop of Talbut-Smith's redirection, one of three first half saves by the freshman. Wade (Coleraine, Northern Ireland) had two chances she nearly converted, but both shots strayed just wide.
The Catawba Indians nearly got on the scoresheet in the 39th minute when C-N was called for a foul just outside the 18-yard box. Debbie Killian booted a cross towards the back post that almost got to Erin Feldman, but Burns intercepted the ball and ended the opportunity, the second of two saves for her in the opening period.
Through one half, the Eagles held an overwhelming edge in shots, 13-4 and they also had all five corners that were awarded, but were unable to convert them into a lead.
The early second half action wasn't much different from the play in the first until the 66th minute, when Wade was fouled inside the box, giving Herrity a penalty kick. The senior could not convert the chance, as Hardy made a diving save to keep the match scoreless.
The Eagles finally broke through in the 74th minute when Herrity flicked a perfect pass on to Wade, who made a run at the Catawba goal and beat Hardy with a right-footed shot for a 1-0 lead. C-N added insurance when they turned an 82nd minute corner into another goal. Wade's corner kick came to Ragney, who put it away for her first goal as an Eagle.
"There's nobody like [Heida] in the South Atlantic Conference." "She's our pivot player, she gets on the ball, she's comfortable with pressure. She leads the team, she talks, but then defensively, she breaks the game up so well. She can get overlooked and for a player to come in week in and week out and perform at the highest level knowing that there's no real recognition, I know she's got 26 teammates and four coaches that recognize what she does for this team."
Catawba could only manage a single shot on goal in the second half, as the Eagle defense clamped down and Burns finished the night with another clean sheet, her 12th of the season. The mark not only continues raising the bar on the program record, which Burns has already broken, it ties the SAC record for clean sheets in a season.
The semis will be played in Rock Hill, S.C. on Friday afternoon with the opening whistle for Carson-Newman and Anderson sounding at 1:30 p.m.
-CN-
