Rock Hill, S.C.? ? The top-seeded Carson-Newman Women?s Soccer Team (18-2-1)?won the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women?s Soccer Tournament Championship Sunday by way of a 3-1 victory over No. 6-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne (14-7-2), ending the Bears? five-game unbeaten streak in the process.
Junior Melissa Morris (Sweetwater, Tenn.)?scored her third goal of the season to lead Carson-Newman while?sophomore Catherine Hauck (Lake?Mary,?Fla.) scored the lone?tally for L-R.? The win marks the second straight tournament title for the No. 11-ranked Eagles.
Carson-Newman held a 24-12 advantage over L-R on shots, including an 11-4 spread in the first half. Lauren MacKenzie (Barrie, Ontario, CANADA)?made four saves for the Eagles in the match, while Katelyn Burwell (Carthage, N.C.) stopped 11 attempts on goal for the Bears.
Morris, Treanna Howell (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) and Morgan Gruenenfelder (Sweetwater, Tenn.)?each found the back of the net in the match for Carson-Newman, while Sandra Kaelin (Trachslau, SWITZERLAND) notched a pair of assists and Nikki Brannen (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.)?added a helper to pace the Eagle attack.?
Carson-Newman opened the scoring early in the first half, taking the initial 1-0 advantage on Howell?s 13th goal of the season in the opening moments of the ninth minute off a well-placed cross from Brannen. The Eagles stretched the lead to 2-0 in the closing seconds of the 16th minute, when Morris redirected a Kaelin corner kick past the L-R keeper for her third goal of the season.
Gruenenfelder widened the margin to 3-0 early in the 29th minute with her fifth goal of the campaign, getting her head on a deflected corner kick by Kaelin and redirecting it into the back of the net to send the Eagles into the interval with a three-goal advantage.
The Eagles held the three-goal advantage until late in the 83rd minute, when Hauck's corner kick skipped of the hand?of the goalkeeper and into?the back of the net to cut the advantage to 3-1.
Carson-Newman earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Women?s Soccer Championship by capturing the SAC Tournament title, and will await the selection of the remaining field to learn its seed in next weekend?s Southeast Region Tournament.
2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference All-Tournament Team
Alyssa Retundie, Catawba
Tasha Wilhelm, Catawba
Marjaana Kaaresvirta, Tusculum
Ashley Bradford, Tusculum
Catherine Hauck, Lenoir-Rhyne
Kaelia Frazier, Lenoir-Rhyne
Katelyn Burwell, Lenoir-Rhyne
Morgan Gruenenfelder, Carson-Newman
Brianna Buckley, Carson-Newman
