Carson-Newman, Tusculum, Lenoir-Rhyne, Catawba Advance In Food Lion SAC Women’s Soccer Tournament

Three of the top four seeds advanced in the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament, including two matches that needed to go to penalty kicks to determine the team to advance.

Top-seed and defending tournament champion Carson-Newman College won easily over Brevard, while second-seed Tusculum College needed penalty kicks to advance over Lincoln Memorial. Sixth-seed Lenoir-Rhyne also needed penalty kicks in is match against Newberry, while Catawba, which has advanced to the tournament championship match the past three seasons, edged Wingate 1-0.

Friday's pairings have Carson-Newman facing Catawba. Tusculum will face sixth-seed Lenoir-Rhyne in the other semifinal. Both women's semifinals matches will start at 6 p.m. at Manchester Meadows in Rock Hill, S.C.

Carson-Newman 5, Brevard 0

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The No. 1 seed Carson-Newman College Women's Soccer Team (16-2-1) tallied three first half goals en route to defeating Brevard College (6-12-1), 5-0, in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament.

The national No. 11 Lady Eagles remain first in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region Rankings which determine the participants for the NCAA Tournament later this month.

Carson-Newman held a 30-2 shot advantage and a 12-2 shot on goal advantage in the match.

C-N got on the board in the 23rd minute when sophomore midfielder Sandra Kaelin (Trachslau, SWITZERLAND) received sophomore forward Trenna Howell (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) from the left side of the field and finished at the back post.

The Lady Eagles went up 2-0 just six minutes later when Howell tallied her team-leading 11th goal of the season after a long run down the left side of the field.

Carson-Newman scored again just after the half-hour mark (31:41) as junior defender Melissa Morris (Sweetwater, Tenn.) finished a loose ball in front of the net from a corner kick.

The Lady Eagles added two goals after the half to make the final score 5-0. Kaelin recorded her second score of the day with an assist by freshman midfielder Andrea Saevik (Bolandet, NORWAY) at the 53:22 mark and then found senior forward Nikki Brannen (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) with a cross from the left side for the final goal of the contest with 13:47 to play.

Carson-Newman sophomore Lauren MacKenzie (Barrie, Ontario, CANADA) picked up the shutout in goal, stopping two Tornado shots while Sydney Douglas (Houston, Texas) tallied 12 saves for Brevard despite the loss.

With the win the Lady Eagles advance to take on Catawba match on Friday at 6:00 p.m., in Rock Hill, S.C., in the SAC Tournament semifinals.

Tusculum 0, Lincoln Memorial 0 (Tusclum advances 3-1 on penalty kicks)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- Tusculum College junior Jillian Cunha converted the second-seeded Pioneers' third attempt in a penalty kick shootout on Wednesday evening to push Tusculum through to the semifinal round of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament, after Tusculum and seventh-seeded Lincoln Memorial University played to a scoreless draw through 110 minutes.

Tusculum (14-4-2) outshot the Railsplitters (7-8-3) 18-16 in the match, including a 5-4 margin in the first half. Freshman Marjaana Kaaresvirta made five saves for the Pioneers, in addition to two key stops in the shootout, to earn her third shutout of the season. Sarah Thompson made eight saves for LMU in the match to also earn a clean sheet.

Both teams had several scoring chances in regular time, with the best opportunity of the match coming in! ! the 87th minute when Tusculum's Kourtney Kavic delivered a well-struck shot towards the bottom left corner, but Thompson made a brilliant save to preserve the scoring draw and force extra time. Lincoln Memorial had several chances to score the winner in extra time but Kaaresvirta made several clutch stops for the Pioneers.

Tusculum converted its first three attempts in the shootout as Claire Duncan, Amber Marceau, and Cunha each beat the keeper to give the Pioneers a 3-1 advantage after three sets of attempts. Kaaresvirta made two brilliant saves to propel TC to the shootout win, including a diving stop on LMU's fourth attempt to push the Pioneers through the semifinal round of the conference tournament.

The Pioneers return to the pitch on Friday when they take on sixth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne University in a SAC Tournament semifinal match in a rematch of Saturday's overtime thriller, which L-R won 2-1.

Lenoir-Rhyne 1, Newberry 1 (Lenoir-Rhyne advances on penalty kicks, 3-2)

NEWBERRY, S.C. - The No. 6-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne women's soccer team (14-6-1) outlasted No. 3 Newberry College (13-4-2), 3-2, on penalty kicks after battling to a 1-1 double overtime draw Wednesday afternoon at the Newberry College Soccer Field to advance to the 2009 Food Lion SAC Tournament semifinals.

Sophomore defender Casey McDonnell (Toms River, N.J.) opened up the scoring for L-R by tallying her first goal of the year unassisted at the 14:42 mark to make it 1-0.

Newberry answered immediately when freshman forward Ashley Reetz (Summerville, S.C.) scored her second goal of the season unassisted at 16:58 to tie the game at one.

The 1-1 stalemate would last for the remainder of regulation and two ten-minute overtime periods.

Newberry opened the shootout with a miss while sophomore Co-captain Catherine Hauck (Lake Mary, Fla.) converted on her 12-yard try for L-R.

Following two misses by each team L-R held a 1-0 advantage entering the fourth round.

McDonnell and senior Shannon Agnew (Alpharetta, Ga.) then answered two consecutive Newberry conversions with scores of their own to win the shootout, 3-2, and lift the Bears into the semifinals.

The victory for L-R avenges its earlier regular season setback at Newberry when it lost, 2-1, in overtime on October 17.

L-R will travel to Rock Hill, S.C. on Friday to face No. 2-seeded Tusculum in a SAC Tournament Semifinal, marking the second meeting between the two teams in just seven days.

Catawba 1, Wingate 0

SALISBURY, NC -- Junior Andrea Dunshie (Apex, NC/SW Raleigh HS) scored just before the half and Catawba held off visiting Wingate for a 1-0 win in the first round of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament on Wednesday night at Frock Field. The win improves the Catawba Indians to 13-4-2 and advances the Lady Indians into a Friday semifinal with top-seeded Carson-Newman at Rock Hill, SC. Wingate falls to 11-4-3.

The teams produced just 16 shots on the night, but several by both teams nearly led to goals in the back-and-forth opening half. Catawba's Tasha Wilhelm (Mt. Savage, MD/Beall HS) hit the crossbar on a 25 yard shot just a minute into the match. Another shot from Wilhelm in the 25th minute that was heading into the upper right corner was batted away by Wingate keeper Catie Avery (East Hampton, CT).

Catawba keeper Lindsay Webster (Hopkinton, MA/Hopkinton HS) was also sparkling in the opening half. She had three stops in the opening 20 minutes, including one from the six off the foot of Julia Zielinski (Erie, PA). The best chance for Wingate came in the 35th minute as she stopped a breakaway from Jenni Barbett (Severn, MD).

The Lady Indians finally broke the deadlock a minute before the half as Dunshie took a pass from Kristen Girardi (Asheville, NC/N. Buncombe HS/W. Carolina) and poked a shot from around 10 yards under the Wingate keeper. The Catawba defense made the goal hold up, holding Wingate to just three shots in the second half. Webster stopped the best chance as she snared a low cross before it got to an unmarked Wingate player at the back post.

Webster recorded her sixth shutout of the season and made six saves. Avery had three saves for the Bulldogs. The win marked the 12th straight for Catawba over Wingate with 11 coming by shutout. Of those 11 shutouts seven have now been 1-0.