JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the third time in the past four seasons, Carson-Newman (6-6-3, 3-5-3 SAC) will face Wingate (11-2-3, 9-1-1 SAC) in the South Atlantic Conference quarterfinal round on Saturday afternoon at the WU Soccer Complex.
Carson-Newman rallied from an early deficit to defeat Tusculum in Wednesday's regular season finale to qualify for the South Atlantic Conference tournament. For just the third time under eighth-year head coach Simon Duffy, the Eagles will play a road game in the quarterfinal round.
"Just happy to still be playing," Carson-Newman head coach Simon Duffy said. "We knew going into that game what was at stake. They clawed back and did what they had to do and played really well. I'm glad how we responded the way we did. We kept our composure and then got two wonderful goals in the second half."
Under Duffy, the Eagles are 7-6 in the South Atlantic Conference tournament and are 4-3 in the quarterfinal round.
Selina Jud scored a pair of goals in Wednesday's win giving her four this season. She is tied with Karli Pettitt for most goals on the team. Five other Eagles have scored multiple goals this season and in total eight have scored this season. Assisting on one of C-N's three goals last time out, Alayna Corbitt now has a team-high three assists this season. Seven other players have at least one assist as well.
C-N holds the 32-9-2 advantage all-time in this series but has dropped the last three meetings. All three wins for Wingate have come by two goals. The meeting in 2022 ended Carson-Newman's season, losing in the SAC quarterfinals. Six of the last 19 meetings have come in the postseason, four of six were won by C-N. Saturday's matchup will be the third postseason meeting in the past four seasons.
For the first time in program history, Wingate claimed the outright South Atlantic Conference regular season title. The Bulldogs defeated Coker 2-0 on Wednesday and then Catawba and Lenoir-Rhyne played to a 1-1 tie, allowing WU to surpass both at the top of the standings. Wingate wrapped up the regular season 11-2-3 overall and went 9-1-1 in league play.
WU enters postseason play as one of the hottest teams in the country, having four won straight games to end the regular season, the 12th active longest current winning streak. The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 12-2 during this stretch which includes a win over Carson-Newman.
"Just a really good team," Duffy said. "They are well-coached and have a lot of good players. When we played them here, you see a 3-1 result and think it was an easy win for them, but it was far from it. I thought we were very good in that game and kind of just lost our way in the second half. I think we are very excited to play them again."
WU Soccer Complex has been of the toughest places to play in the conference over the past four seasons. The Bulldogs have lost just three home games over the past four seasons and twice over the past three. This season, Wingate is 7-0-1 at home with the lone tie coming against Mount Olive 4-4 on Sept 8. They are one of 14 schools in DII that are unbeaten at home and have one tie or less.
Helga Halldorsdottir is the top goal scorer for the second-best offense in the SAC. She has a team-high seven goals while Manu Baptista Filipe has six. Seven other players have scored multiple times for an offense that scores more than twice per game. WU averages the most shots per game at 18.5 and is the second-most efficient squad, with nearly half of their shots hitting the target.
Haley Faucette has been one of the best goalkeepers in the South Atlantic Conference this season. Her 0.94 goals against average mark is the fourth-best in the league, while her 56 saves and .789 save percentage rank fifth.
Saturday's match starts at 4:00 p.m. A live stream of the game is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/flowsoc.
Fans can also follow along by following @CN_Eagles on X (Twitter) and Instagram for in-game updates.
