Matthews, N.C.-- The Lenoir-Rhyne Women's Soccer Team is seeking their 4th SAC Tournament title Sunday afternoon as the top two seeds in the South Atlantic Conference will do battle from Matthews, N.C. Lenoir-Rhyne is looking to sweep the regular season and tournament titles for just the third time in program history as the Bears will bring in the nation's longest winning streak into the match. 

Lenoir-Rhyne will bring in a 15-0-3 record into Sunday's championship match The Bears got here by defeating the No. 8 seed Mars Hill 2-0 and then defeated the No. 5 seed Carson-Newman by the same score. Neve Duston scored the game winning goals in both games so far this tournament as Dustin is firing on all cylinders right now with seven goals in her last eight games.  Duston will also break the program record with her 90th career game on Sunday. 

Catawba reach the title game with a 81st minute goal from Hannah Dunn to defeat No. 7 seed Limestone in the quarterfinals then ousted the No. 3 Wingate Bulldogs 2-0 in the semifinals. Catawba also got good news on Friday as Sydney Jimmo, who lead the SAC with 17 goals, returned to play 40 minutes. Jimmo missed the previous two games including the Bears 2-1 win on November 1st. 

As mentioned, these two teams battled less then two weeks ago in Salisbury, as the Bears got two quick goals from Elin Hansson and held off the Indians to win 2-1 to secure their 9th regular season title and the number one seed in this tournament. The seeding does not matter in this matchup as the game will be held on a neutral site in Matthews, N.C. Both teams have goals to return to Matthews in a few weeks as this will be the site of the 2023 NCAA Final Four. 

Speaking of the NCAA tournament, this is a huge game for Catawba as the Indians slipped to the third seed in last week's NCAA rankings as North Georgia jumped Catawba. The top two seeds get to host the first and second round starting next week. A win over the Bears could be enough to jump the Nighthawks, which means at least one maybe two more home games for Catawba. The Bears held strong to the No. 1 ranking again and all but s

Sunday's match up is full of firepower as we all know as seven of the top ten goal scorers are in the contest. The teams combined for sixteen All-SAC selections including nine First-Team honors. The one stat that stands out in this contest is how well the Bears work together as LR has assists on 43 of their 48 goals this season. 43 assists is the second most in a single-season for the Bears. Catawba's goalkeeper Ashley Hughes has only given up 9 goals all year while the Bears have only allowed seven pass the white line this season. 

This is the 10th meeting between this programs in the SAC Tournament as the Bears defeated the Indians 1-0 in the SAC Semifinals during the 2020-21 Tournament on their way to their 3rd title. In all, The Bears hold a 6-3 record against Catawba in the SAC Tournament but two of the three loses came in the SAC Final as the Indians did defeat the Bears in the 1998 and 2022 Championship games. 

Kick-off is schedule for 1:00 PM on Sunday from Matthews as the Bears and Indians will add another chapter to their rivalry that has seen some epic games in these past few years and Sunday will be no different as the Bears look to secure their 4th SAC Title.