ROCK HILL, S.C. - Pairings for the 2012 Food Lion SAC Soccer Championships have been finalized, with the Mars Hill men and Lenoir-Rhyne women earning the event's top seeds.
SAC Championship men's and women's quarterfinals will take place at campus sites on Tuesday, followed by semifinals and finals Friday and Sunday at Manchester Meadows in Rock Hill.
Mars Hill enters the championship as the No. 1 seed in the men's bracket after winning the regular-season conference title with a 7-1-1 league record. The Lions, ranked 13th in the nation in last week's NSCAA poll, closed the regular season on Saturday with a 2-2 draw against Carson-Newman.
MHC will host No. 8 seed Tusculum on Tuesday in the quarterfinal round. TC finished even with Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC standings at 3-4-2. However, L-R won the tiebreaker for the No. 7 seed by virtue of its head-to-head win earlier this season over the Pioneers.
By playing Mars Hill to a draw on Saturday, Carson-Newman earned the No. 2 seed in the men's championship. C-N and Lincoln Memorial - which won at Newberry on Saturday - finished the regular season with identical point totals in the conference standings, but the Eagles won the tiebreaker for the higher seed thanks to its win over LMU earlier this year.
Carson-Newman will face L-R in Jefferson City in Tuesday's quarterfinals, while LMU will host No. 6 seed Catawba, which finished 3-3-3 in the SAC.
Wingate is seeded No. 4 in the men's bracket after going 5-3-1 in the conference, including Saturday's scoreless draw with Tusculum. The Bulldogs will host fifth-seeded and defending tournament champion Anderson -- which beat L-R on Saturday to finish 4-4-1 in the SAC -- in Tuesday's quarterfinals.
The Trojans defeated Wingate, 1-0, on a penalty kick in the 30th minute in the two teams' regular-season matchup at Trojan Stadium on Oct. 13.
SAC Soccer Championship Central
In the women's bracket, Lenoir-Rhyne will be the top seed after wrapping up a perfect conference season on Saturday with a win over Anderson. The SAC regular-season champion Bears, who were ranked 11th in the latest NSCAA national poll, went unbeaten in league play for the second-straight year and have won 19-consecutive regular-season conference matches.
L-R will face No. 8 seed Mars Hill in Tuesday's quarterfinals. The Lions finished the season 2-7 in the SAC.
Wingate -- winners of 10-straight matches -- secured the event's No. 2 seed on Saturday by defeating Tusculum, 3-2. The Bulldogs, who won last season's Food Lion SAC Women's Soccer Championship, will be pitted against seventh-seeded Newberry in the quarterfinal round.
Tusculum is seeded No. 3 in the women's bracket and will host No. 6 seed Lincoln Memorial in Tuesday's quarterfinals. The Pioneers enter the tournament after going 6-2-1 in the SAC, while LMU went 3-4-2.
Catawba beat Brevard 3-1 on Saturday, clinching the bracket's No. 4 seed and home-field advantage for the quarterfinal round. The Indians will host fifth-seeded Anderson on Tuesday AT 5 p.m.
Catawba is 12-6 overall, while AU went 7-6-3 in the regular season.
Trojan senior Jessica Kleinberg scored the game-winning goal with just 26 seconds remaining in the first half to lift AU past Catawba, 1-0, in their regular-season contest on Sept. 15 in Salisbury, N.C.
Complete championship information is available online at SAC Soccer Championship Central. Links to follow each of Tuesday's quarterfinals will be made available on the page.
2012 Food Lion SAC Soccer Championship Schedule
Men
Quarterfinals - Tuesday, Oct. 30
No. 8 Tusculum at No. 1 Mars Hill, 4 p.m.
No. 7 Lenoir-Rhyne at No. 2 Carson-Newman, 7:30 p.m.
No. 6 Catawba at No. 3 Lincoln Memorial, 3 p.m.
No. 5 Anderson at No. 4 Wingate, 4:30 p.m.
Semifinals - Friday, Nov.2 (Rock Hill, S.C.)
Mars Hill/Tusculum vs. Wingate/Anderson, 7 p.m.
Carson-Newman/Lenoir-Rhyne vs. LMU/Catawba, 7 p.m.
Final - Sunday, Nov. 4 (Rock Hill, S.C.)
Semifinal 1 winner vs. Semifinal 2 winner, 4 p.m.
Women
Quarterfinals - Tuesday, Oct. 30
No. 8 Mars Hill at No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne, 7 p.m.
No. 7 Newberry at No. 2 Wingate, 4:30 p.m.
No. 6 Lincoln Memorial at No. 3 Tusculum, 7 p.m.
No. 5 Anderson at No. 4 Catawba, 5 p.m.
Semifinals - Friday, Nov.2 (Rock Hill, S.C.)
Lenoir-Rhyne/Mars Hill vs. Catawba/Anderson, 4 p.m.
Wingate/Newberry vs. Tusculum/LMU, 4 p.m.
Final - Sunday, Nov. 4 (Rock Hill, S.C.)
Semifinal 1 winner vs. Semifinal 2 winner, 1 p.m.
