November 5, 2021

Fourth-seeded C-N opens SAC Tournament pursuit with Wingate

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman women’s soccer will enter the SAC Tournament for the fifth time under head coach Simon Duffy on Saturday.

Wingate

11-6

Carson-Newman

10-4-3

Final	1	2	T
Wingate (11-6)	1	0	1
Carson-Newman (10-4-3)	1	1	2

Video: Simon Duffy interview

Match Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman women's soccer will enter the SAC Tournament for the fifth time under head coach Simon Duffy on Saturday. The Eagles, seeded fourth for the 2021 edition, will square off and host the fifth-seeded Wingate Bulldogs at McCown Field for a 5:00 p.m. Saturday night kickoff.

When making the SAC Tournament under coach Duffy, the Eagles (9-4-3, 7-3-1 SAC) have never seen anything below a fifth seed as they have been number one seed twice while holding the third and fifth seed once, respectively. The Eagles finished their 2021 regular season with 22 points as they wrapped up the regular season with a difficult 3-2 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday from Hickory.

In SAC postseason play, C-N has gone 24-16-4 all-time. This will be the first time in two years that C-N can open up postseason action from their home pitch. The Eagles welcomed in the Queens (N.C.) Royals in the 2019 SAC Quarterfinals before losing 2-1 and having their season cut short.

However, in 2018, it was the Wingate Bulldogs who came to town as C-N would win 4-1 before going on to lose in the SAC Championship game that season. Under Duffy, the Eagles have gone 5-3 in SAC conference postseason play, while holding a 11-3 mark all-time in such regard.

"We know what kind of team Wingate has been this season and it is our job as a staff to get the girls ready in all areas of physical, mental, and emotionally," head coach Simon Duffy said. "We need to be at our best and rebound after our performance last match against L-R. We knew we had this match at home while L-R was playing for their lives, so we now need to have the mindset of we either win or our season is over."

The turning point in the season came by way of a 7-0 thrashing by Catawba on Sept. 25 from McCown Field. The Eagles would allow the most goals under the direction of Duffy, and soon quickly rebounded to get on track the rest of the season. Since losing 7-0 on that September night, C-N has gone 5-2-1 against SAC opponents, including shutting out four straight opponents from Oct. 9-Oct. 30.

It continues to be a duo of young guns leading the way for Duffy and his staff throughout 2021. Freshman midfielder Sydnee Duncan (Athens, Tenn.) leads the team in points (16), goals (8), and game-winning goals (4). Her 16 points overall land her in 12^th place, while her 12 points in SAC play rank 9^th in the conference. The four game winners land Duncan second in the category overall, but she continues to lead the SAC with three of those coming against conference opponents.

The other part of C-N's young guns has been freshman forward Nellie Bryneus (Halmstad, Sweden). Currently, the Sweden native is tied for the team lead with four assists while holding the team lead in shots on goal with her 22 attempts thus far. Graduate student Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.) has been a menace for defenses during her time as an Eagle, and nothing has changed this season. Futrell is tied with Bryneus with four assists while holding the team lead in shots with 49 attempts this season.

Futrell also has been moving up the ranks of Carson-Newman women's soccer program history throughout this 2021 season. Heading into Saturday, the Wilson, N.C. native is sixth in points (87), tied for sixth-most career goals (37) alongside Lauren Wade, has the third-most shot attempts (261), and the fourth-most shots on goal with 114 attempts thus far.

This is the first postseason meeting between C-N and Wingate since the 2018 SAC Quarterfinals matchup. Overall, the teams have met seven times in the SAC tourney with the series being led by C-N 6-1 when playing in the SAC tournament. In the overall series history, the Bulldogs and Eagles have met 37 previous instances, as C-N holds the overall series lead 28-7-2.

In their last SAC Tournament matchup in 2018, then no. 16 and top-seeded Carson-Newman collected four goals in the final 18 minutes taking a 4-1 victory over eighth-seeded Wingate in the South Atlantic Conference Quarterfinals at McCown Field. The loss ended a streak of eight straight league title appearances for Wingate.

Meanwhile, in regular season, the Eagles and Bulldogs met back on September 18 as it would be C-N taking a much-needed 1-0 win. It was the first time all season in which the Eagles would be outshot in a match, but it was a 97^th minute penalty kick by junior Addie Henry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) to take home a 1-0 victory. It was the first time an Eagle athlete had successfully converted a PK since Magda Mosengo completed the action against Catawba in November of 2018.

In the match, C-N allowed 25 shot attempts from Wingate, the first time an Eagles team has allowed between 20-29 shots from an opponent since October 2019 against Catawba, who had 23 that night.

Wingate has been one of the hottest teams in the SAC this season as they have won four out of their last five matches and are currently riding a seven-match win streak against SAC opponents after starting the season off 0-4. The Bulldogs earned the no. 5 seed in the SAC Tournament as they finished with 21 points and were just inches away from being able to host. When playing on the road this season, Wingate has 4-4 including three of those losses coming against SAC opponents.

"They had a tough slate to start their season, but have gotten into a good groove as of late. They have formed a strong team chemistry and now their season is on the line as well come Saturday," Duffy said. "Their coach has done an excellent job of getting them ready for every match and I expect nothing less for this upcoming match. We took one from their place and I know they'll fight tooth and nail (just like us) to get the upper hand and secure the win Saturday night."

Statistically, the Bulldogs have the SAC lead for shots in conference matches with 235 while also being second in the conference with 116 shots on goal. Wingate also holds the SAC lead in conference matches with 21.4 shots/game while being second in the category overall with that mark. Overall, the Bulldogs are second in total shots (343), goals (42), shot percentage (.122), shots on goal (172), and assists (34).

The team has also secured 10 shutouts, which is third most overall. As part of their 10 shutouts, Wingate maintains the third-lowest GAA with a clip of 0.68 behind Catawba and Queens.

Leading the Bulldogs is interim head coach and former Bulldogs goalkeeping standout, Abbey Frail. Frail joined the coaching staff in the fall of 2020 after graduating with her undergraduate degree from Wingate. In the 2020 season, she helped lead the Bulldogs to an appearance in the NCAA regional title match.

During her senior season, Frail captured first team Academic All-American honors from CoSIDA and was named the 2019 women's soccer SAC Scholar-Athlete. She was able to garner first-team All-SAC accolades in her senior season and was named All-Region from the United Soccer Coaches and D2CCA.

The Winston-Salem native was a goalie for the Bulldogs in her playing career. She and the team played in the SAC Tournament title match for three of her four season, including finishing 16^th in the nation after 2019. That year, she entered the NCAA Tournament as the SAC leader with a 0.56 goals-against-average and led the conference with 12 shutouts. She was ninth nationally in shutouts and 16^th in the goals-against-average category. Over the final seven games of 2019, Frail and her team notched five shutouts including a pair over top-20 opponents in the NCAA Tournament.

Alicia Rubio Garcia leads the Bulldogs with eight goals and 19 points, including one game-winner. In terms of assists, the Bulldogs are led by McKenna DeLong with eight thus far. DeLong also leads the team with 28 shots on goal while teammate Caroline Peters is leading the charge with 50 shots this season. The group's 34 saves are fourth-most in the league.

Katrine Thisgaard has been called upon more often than not for the Bulldogs as she holds a 9-3 record in action this season. She has played in 16 matches with 14 starts for Wingate. Her 14 starts allow her to be second overall in the category. Thisgaard has mad the 10^th most saves this season with 35 to her name while allowing the second-fewest goals with only eight allowed while in net. She is also responsible for nine of the 10 total shutouts for Wingate, making her second in the category.

Saturday's quarterfinal match is set to start at 5 p.m. from the confines of McCown Field at Wayne and Beth Harvey Stadium.

"Playing at home is special no matter the time or situation and Saturday is no exception," Duffy said. "We know it will be cold, but we hope that fans and families come out and pack McCown Field to the rafters. I have vivid memories of the stands being packed in years past, so I'm hoping it can be replicated this weekend because we love having as many fans supporting us as possible."

Fans who cannot make it to the banks of Mossy Creek can enjoy a live broadcast courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network by visiting cneagles.com/live and follow live in-game updates via Twitter from @CN_Eagles.