ROCK HILL, S.C. - Top-seeded and second-ranked Carson-Newman dominated second-seeded Wingate on Sunday evening, claiming their third-straight South Atlantic Conference Championship with a 4-0 victory. The Eagles move to 5-1 all-time when facing Wingate in SAC tournament play.
Carson-Newman becomes the first team in the history of the league to win three-straight regular season titles and three-straight league championships in the same span. The win marks a record of 51-5-2 in the past three years, excluding NCAA Tournament play.
C-N joins the Catawba College Catawba Indians as the only other team in the SAC to have won three-consecutive conference titles, when the Indians did it from 1997-99.
"I just can't put it into words, I couldn't have asked anything more from the players today," Coach Simon Duffy stated. He is the first coach in C-N history to win the SAC title in his first year at the helm.
C-N (17-0-1) finished the regular season and the league tournament unbeaten, a feat that has never been done in the history of the conference.
The Eagles have now notched a whopping seven titles in the past 14 years since they first won it in all in 2004.
The league title match has ended in a shutout 14 times since the first outing in 1991. Only Elon's 6-0 victory in 1991 has provided a wider final margin of victory than C-N's 4-0 tally this season among the 27 title affairs.
It took Lauren Wade less than three minutes to make her mark in her final SAC Championship game. The senior was given an open net after a tic-tac-toe play by Magda Mosengo and Catarina Realista, leaving the forward with her easiest goal of the season, her third of the tournament.
Just five minutes later, Mosengo created havoc once again. After a touch in the box put focus on the junior forward, she found a streaking Maddison Huffstetler who rocketed home the touch pass on the right side of the 6-yard box for her second goal of the season and first of the tournament.
A few moments later and Wade wasn't satisfied just yet. The All-American let loose a shot with her left foot from over 25 yards out, sailing over goalkeeper Alexis Jones and into the top right corner of the net for her 15th goal of 2017.
Check out this kick from @LaurenW17 in the 13th minute to put the Eagles up 3. #NCAATop10 @CNWSoccer 3
— C-N Athletics (@CNathletics) November 5, 2017
Wingate 0
SAC Championship pic.twitter.com/v8WIjaIaB6
The three goals in the first 13 minutes marks the fastest start to a game for the Eagles in the last decade.
"The game couldn't have went any better for us at the start, we came out like lightning so to say," Wade exclaimed. "We just got into our groove and this group is absolutely fantastic."
The Eagles have never lost a league championship matchup, holding a 5-0-2 record all-time in such games. The two draws in 2006 and 2008 were won by C-N following penalty kicks.
Wingate (11-4) reached the SAC championship for the eighth-consecutive year. They now move to 3-5 in conference title games.
Wade put the icing on the cake in the 63rd minute when Mosengo stole the ball from a Bulldog defender and found the Coleraine, Northern Ireland native at the top of the 18-yard box. Wade stepped and fired, finding the back of the net for her second hat trick of the season. Her other came at Tusculum on Oct. 18 when she recorded three goals in less than four minutes for the fifth-fastest hat trick in D2 history.
Wade was named the SAC Tournament Most Valuable Player recording five goals and an assist.
Sophomore net minder Jackie Burns needed just two save to notch the 11th shutout of the year, which included her program leading 34th win. She has eight solo clean sheets in 2017 with three other shutouts split with Jasmine Rizk.
Helen Seed joined Mosengo, Realista and Wade as members of the 2017 SAC All-Tournament team. The senior defender was named to the All-Tournament team for the third-straight year.
"It's a special group, and I'm happy we won it the way we did. We deserved it," Duffy added. "Very happy to be coaching this team."
The winner of the league championship earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles currently hold the No. 3 position in the most recent Southeast Regional Poll, but with the SAC Championship they could move up to No. 1 in the region.
Columbus State, who currently holds the top spot in the region, lost to UNC-Pembroke in Peach Belt Conference title game. Flagler, who was No. 2 in the region, fell to Columbus State in the conference semifinal match on Friday.
The top-six teams in each region comprise the NCAA Division II playoff field, with the top-two seeds in each region collecting a bye and a home game in the playoffs.
The NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Selection Show will take place Monday at 6:00 p.m.
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