HICKORY, N.C. – Monday sees Carson-Newman entering the SAC Tournament for the fourth straight season under head coach Simon Duffy. The Eagles, seeded fifth, will square off with the fourth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne Bears from Hickory, N.C. as part of the first round action in the 2021 South Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer Spring Championship.
For the fourth time under Simon Duffy, Carson-Newman (4-2) enters the postseason tournament as a top-five seed after wrapping up their 2021 regular season with 12 points. In their conference pod, the Eagles were able to sweep both the Tusculum Pioneers and Mars Hill Mountain Lions, but fell to their East Tennessee rival, Lincoln Memorial, both times by a 2-1 result. In SAC postseason play, C-N has gone 24-15-4 all-time.
This will be the first time since 2013 that C-N will open postseason action on the road. The last time an Eagles squad played on the road in the first round, it was against the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears on Nov. 5, 2013. The Eagles were handed a 5-1 defeat by the then top-seeded Bears. Since then, C-N has gone 11-2 in SAC conference postseason play, including a 5-2 record under Duffy.
Since losing to LMU on Feb. 25 in a 2OT heartbreaker from McCown Field, Duffy's club has seen themselves garner a 4-1 record including two shutouts and two overtime wins. Heading into the first round, C-N has maintained its lead among many statistical categories in the SAC, both individually and team wide.
Offensively, it has been the efforts of senior Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.) which has anchored the Eagles recently. Futrell currently leads the conference with 13 points, including scoring the SAC-leading six goals, and rocketing the third-most shots in all the SAC with 34, with 20 shots on goal. Futrell notched her third-game winner on Thursday, which leads the SAC in the category.
Besides the efforts of the upperclassmen, this year has been full of new faces making immediate impacts for C-N. Most notably, the Eagles have seen freshman Molly Bukiewicz (Beavercreek, Ohio) starting her Eagles career off quickly. Bukiewicz is the SAC-leader in assists with six and has also been part of a multitude of Eagles who have played in all six games which tops the SAC as well. The freshman also sits in the top-10 of the SAC with nine points.
One of the biggest notes to gather from this year for C-N is how potent the offense has been. As a whole, C-N has the second highest shot percentage at .170, attempted the fourth-most corner kicks at 30, and hold the second-most shots on goals with 59. C-N also maintains the highest goals for average in the SAC with 3.00/game and the third-highest shots/game average of 17.7 (behind Catawba and Wingate at 19.0) across the six games of action.
Defensively, the Eagles have the fourth-lowest goals allowed with seven, a top-10 GAA of 1.37, and allowed the fewest goals this season in the SAC with two, one of those coming in conference play.
This is the first postseason meeting between C-N and L-R since the 2013 meeting in Hickory, N.C. Overall, the teams have met nine times in the SAC tourney with the series being tied 4-4-1 all-time in the tournament. Overall, the Eagles and Bears have met a total of 38 times, with L-R holding the 21-13-4 series lead.The Eagles last met the Bears in action was Oct. 2, 2019 when Lenoir-Rhyne captured the 3-0 victory thanks to goals from Abigael McGarel, Aqsa Mushtaq, and Hannah Van Eerden.
Lenoir-Rhyne earned the no. 4 seed in the Spring Tournament with 13 points and finishing second in the pod 2 standings behind number one seed Catawba. They started off the season winning four straight, including a season sweep over Coker. The last two games for the Bears included a close 1-0 loss to Catawba before a crucial 2-1 overtime victory against the Wingate Bulldogs. When playing from home, Lenoir-Rhyne is 5-0 on the season with wins over Lincoln Memorial, Catawba, Tusculum, and Coker.
Statistically, the Bears hold the SAC-leading shot percentage of .177 while compiling the third-most goals with 11 and the second-most assists with 12 (three behind C-N). The Bears also have amassed 48 team points on the year and are second in goals for average at a mark of 2.25 while holding opponents to a goals against average of 0.85.
Ria Acton leads the Bears with 10 points off five goals scored, including three game-winners. Acton has also been one of the more consistent offensive threats for L-R as she has six shots on goal with a total of nine attempts. The group's 34 saves are fourth-most in the league.
Grayson Cameron has started in seven of the Bear's eight games while holding opponents to a GAA of 0.96 and collecting a 5-1-1 record.
Monday's quarterfinal match is set to start at 5 p.m. from the Moretz Sports Complex. Lenoir-Rhyne will broadcast the game at lrbears.com with live in-game updates provided at @CNathletics on Twitter.
