ANDERSON, S.C. - After earning its third trip to the NCAA Division II Championships for the fourth time in the last five seasons, fifth-seeded Anderson University men's soccer heads to Gaffney to take on fourth-seeded Carson-Newman in the opening round on Thursday. Kickoff from Saints Field is slated for 1 p.m.
The Trojans
Anderson claimed back-to-back victories to open the 2013 Food Lion
South Atlantic Conference Tournament over second-seeded Wingate in
the first round and sixth-seeded Mars Hill in the semifinals.
Despite the winning streak, AU fell to the SAC's regular season
champion, Queens, 2-0 to lose its first SAC Tournament match since
joining the league in 2010. AU enters the NCAA Tournament with a
12-6-3 overall record.
Junior Martin Brain, who was named to the all-tournament team along with redshirt sophomore Lars Zimmerman and redshirt freshman Alex Delpy, scored both of Anderson's goals for the tournament, highlighted by a second half penalty kick against MHU. The two goals give him three for the year, tying him with classmate Mattias Schyberg for fourth on the team. Redshirt sophomore Andre Carle, who has been held goalless since the regular season finale against Carson-Newman, has the team-lead with 11 goals.
Defensively, freshman Bo Haug has posted two shutouts in his last three matches, making 13 saves in his three appearances in the conference tournament. For the season, Haug is 11-6-3 with a goals against average of 1.00. The freshman is responsible for six shutouts.
The Eagles
Carson-Newman earns a bid to the NCAA Division II Championships for
the first time since the 2009 season. The last time the Eagles
advanced to the tournament they were eliminated in the second round
by the Trojans in a 2-1 contest. This season, C-N finished 12-5
overall.
The Eagles closed the regular season on a seven match winning streak, before seeing that streak snapped in the opening round of the SAC Tournament last Tuesday to sixth-seeded Mars Hill. The Lions escaped Jefferson City with a 1-0 win before falling to AU in the second round. Perhaps its biggest loss in the match was starting goalkeeper Rumwald Le Guevel, who was given a red card in the 19th minute against MHU, forcing him to sit out Thursday's match. Backup goalkeeper Nick Martin is slated to start between the posts.
Martin has only seen action in two matches, playing in just over 81 minutes on the year. Martin posts four saves and has yet to allow a goal.
Offensively, the Eagles are led by the 2013 SAC Player of the Year, Ross Frame, who closed the regular season with 39 points, 15 goals and nine assists which led the conference in every category. Frame was voted SAC Player of the Week three times throughout the season, while he notched two of C-N's three goals in the last meeting between the Eagles and AU.
The Series
Since joining the SAC in 2010, Anderson is 2-3 and has suffered two
straight losses at the hands of the Eagles. In their last two
meetings, C-N has defeated AU by a combined score of 7-3, including
a 4-1 loss in 2012 at Carson-Newman's McCown Field.
