Carson-Newman, Catawba Advance to Finals of 2006 Food Lion SAC Women’s Soccer Tournament

Hickory, N.C. - No. 7 Carson-Newman (16-1) and Catawba (12-4-3) advanced to the Championship Match of the 2006 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament with their semfinal victories on a rainy Friday afternoon at Bears Field in Hickory, N.C. The two squads will meet in the title match Sunday at 1 p.m.

Top-seeded Carson-Newman defeated fourth-seeded Mars Hill (12-8-1), 4-1, before No. 3 seed Catawba shutout seventh-seeded Presbyterian (8-10) by a 2-0 score.

Carson-Newman 4, Mars Hill 1

Three different Lady Eagles scored and Carson-Newman received an own goal as well in rolling to the victory over the Lady Lions of Mars Hill.

Rebecca Angus (Middlesborough, England), the 2006 SAC Player Of The Year, got things going for Carson-Newman just 2:30 into the match after scoring on a breakaway. The goal was Angus' league-leading 18th of the year.

The score remained 1-0 until the 59th minute when the Lady Eagles' Christie Murray (Aberdeen, Scotland) scored right in front of the net after the Lady Lions' goalkeeper, Claudia Cala (Hamilton, N.J.), could not handle a shot attempt.

Carson-Newman, which held a 36-5 shot advantage, put the contest away at the 65:25 mark on an own goal off a corner kick in which a Mars Hill player accidentally headed the ball into the net.

Julie Nelson (Larne, Northern Ireland) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Eagles in the 68th minute before the Lady Lions' Garrett Patton (Spartanburg, S.C.) scored the lone goal of the match for Mars Hill.

Carson-Newman's Nyssa Griffin (Adelaide, Australia) won in goal while Mars Hill's Cala took the loss despite stopping 17 shots.

Catawba 2, Presbyterian 0

Catawba broke through with two second-half goals and its goalkeeper, Kathleen Blake (Greensboro, N.C.), stopped all five shots after break to lift the Catawba Indians to the win over the Lady Blue Hose.

Catawba's Alexandra Beshk (Mission Viejo, Calif.) broke the scoreless tie at the 52:51 mark when she beat Presbyterian goalkeeper, Erin Sinkuler (Roswell, Ga.), for the ball and placed it in the back of the net.

After Blake made a couple of nice saves to keep the score at 1-0, Catawba iced it with just under three minutes to go when McKenzie Burman (Rolesville, N.C.) headed the ball into the goal off several deflections right in front of the net.

Blake picked up the shutout while Sinkuler suffered the loss.