YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. - The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Soccer team is heading to Georgia to play in the first round of the 2021 Division II Men's Soccer NCAA Tournament. The Bears will play SAC foe Limestone Saints on Friday afternoon at 3:00 P.M on the campus of Young Harris.
 
The Bears are coming off a 10-5-1 season, which saw them finish in third place in the SAC conference but the Bears fell in the opening round of the SAC Conference Tournament 2-1 to Mars Hill in Overtime.
 
LR will be making their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance but their first since the 2017 season. In that season, The Bears fell to Young Harris 2-0 in the first round in Gaffney, S.C., home of Limestone. Now, The Bears will travel to Young Harris to open up the tournament against Limestone.
 
Limestone is currently ranked #19 in the last National Poll that was released on November 9^th. The Saints finished second in the SAC Conference but were also upset in the first round of the SAC Conference tournament, falling to Catawba 1-0. Limestone features a balance offense attack with six players with at least 10 points on the season and four players with at least four goals on the year. Goalkeeper Johann Hipper led the SAC in goals against average (.086) and allowed only 13 goals on the year, which led the conference.
 
Bears are led by Victor Cascon, who is the lone Bear remaining from the 2017 NCAA Tournament team. Cascon had five goals and four assists for the Bears this season. Cascon was selected to his fifth All-SAC Team last week including his fourth first-team selection. In goal for the Bears will be Juan Basabe,Basabe will be playing in his fifth post-season game as a Bear. Basabe has only giving up three goals in his previous four post-season games, while making eleven saves.
 
This will be the second meeting between this programs this year. The Saints took the first matchup 2-0 in Hickory on September 18^th. In that contest, the game was scoreless until the 85^th minute. The Saints scored two goals in the last five minutes to come away with the victory.
 
The winner of the game Friday will advance to the second round on Sunday and play the host and the No. 1 National Rank Young Harris. Both teams fell to Young Harris earlier this season. Bears lost 2-0 while the Saints were defeated 3-1 by the Mountain Lions.