Mosengo sends Eagles to third-straight SAC Championship game following OT thriller
November 3, 2017

Mosengo sends Eagles to third-straight SAC Championship game following OT thriller

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Top-seeded and second-ranked Carson-Newman will head to the South Atlantic Conference Championship following a 2-1 overtime victory over the Tusculum Pioneers on Friday evening. The win marks the eight-straight for the Eagles in league tournament play.

Video: Magda Mosengo Interview

Video: Simon Duffy Interview

Highlights v. Tusculum

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Top-seeded and second-ranked Carson-Newman will head to the South Atlantic Conference Championship following a 2-1 overtime victory over the Tusculum Pioneers on Friday evening. The win marks the eight-straight for the Eagles in league tournament play.

Magda Mosengo's rocket from outside the 18-yard in box in the 93rd minute ended the evening after the teams finished the 90 minutes all tied at one.

Lauren Wade sent a pass to the junior native of London, England who took one touch, turned and fired, watching the ball hit twine and being instantly mobbed by her teammates. The goal marked her ninth of 2017, five of which are game winners.

"I'm just so overwhelmed and thrilled to get the win tonight," Mosengo mentioned, nearly out of breath. "Getting the game winner is more than me, it's the team. We worked hard from the first minute to the last and we deserved it."

She moves into a three-way tie for third in program history for game winning goals in a season. She shares that same spot in the history books with the forward Wade.

In the SAC Conference Championships, any goal scored in overtime is decided by sudden victory.

"It was a strange game, didn't think we played our best but that was a top drawer shot right there," Coach Simon Duffy described. "So happy for her, and delighted we to get a result after a better second half."

It has been seven years since the two teams last faced off in the conference tournament when Tusculum collected a 1-0 OT win at McCown Field in the league quarterfinals.

The Eagles (15-0-1) earned just their second win against Tusculum in neutral site games in the series history, having lost seven of their previous eight contests on a level playing field.

The left foot of Lauren Wade proved to be lethal once again for C-N after a lead pass by junior Catarina Realista left Wade all alone with green grass to run.

The Coleraine, Northern Ireland native raced to the left side of the 18-yard box, beating the Tusculum goalkeeper Hannah Graham in the 12th minute for her seventh goal in three contests against the Pioneers.

It marked the 14th game this year in which the Eagles notched the first goal.

It took Sonja Ballmert less than four minutes later to knot the game at one, after a free kick from Yvette Raaijen near from 40 yards out glanced off the head of the honorable mention All-SAC midfielder.

C-N held the advantage in the shot category after 45 minutes 10-3, six of which were on frame.

The Eagles had three opportunities off corner kicks throughout the 90 minutes, in which the last line of defense was a Pioneer defender who saved the ball from hitting the back of the net.

"We were calm, relaxed and we kept pushing," Duffy added. "I just kept mentioning that it will come, and the girls understand not to get too frustrated with it. We were knocking on the door all evening and we just told them we needed to be in the right areas to put it away."

The fourth-seeded Pioneers (10-7-1) season comes to a close finishing the night with three shots on frame. Jackie Burns collected her 15th win after another dominant performance in net.

Carson-Newman heads to its seventh conference championship in program history, marking a cool 4-0-2 in such games. The two ties resulted in penalty kick wins for C-N. No team in the history of the SAC has won three-consecutive regular season titles and three-consecutive conference championships in the same span.

Game time on Sunday is slated for a 4:00 p.m. start at Manchester Meadows.

The Eagles will face the winner of second-seeded Wingate and sixth-seeded Anderson.

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