Railsplitters Finally Get Their Due

HARROGATE, TN – In late October of 2005, the Lincoln Memorial University men’s soccer team traveled to Pensacola, Florida and won their first ever Gulf South Conference Tournament Championship.  Despite that win, the Railsplitters were denied a bid to the NCAA postseason tournament and were forced to end the year with a 15-3-1 record.

The taste of last year’s denial has remained in the Railsplitters mouth even to this day.  Lincoln Memorial’s move from the Gulf South Conference to the South Atlantic Conference left the soccer program and several other sports ineligible to compete in league play this year and gave them only the regional system to use toward getting into postseason play.

On Monday afternoon, the NCAA regional ranking committee selected Lincoln Memorial as one of four teams from the Appalachian Region to participate in the 2006 NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament.  Lenoir-Rhyne College, Carson-Newman College, Lincoln Memorial and Catawba College will square off later this week in Hickory, North Carolina to determine the 2006 Appalachian Region Championship.

The strength of LMU’s new league was noted in this year’s selection of teams as all four schools are members of the South Atlantic Conference.  Lincoln Memorial at 13-1-2 is the #3 seed will face #2 seed and cross state rival Carson-Newman in the first round Thursday, while top seed and SAC Tournament Champion Lenoir-Rhyne will battle #4 Catawba.

Earlier this season, Lincoln Memorial and Carson-Newman played to a 1-1 tie in Harrogate.  The Railsplitters suffered their only defeat of the year a couple of weeks ago when Catawba handed them a 2-1 loss in Salisbury, North Carolina.  The Railsplitters didn’t play Lenoir-Rhyne on this year’s schedule.

So, with the new league and a new region come the spoils of post-season play.  Lincoln Memorial will meet Carson-Newman at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, while Lenoir-Rhyne will take on Catawba at 1:00 o’clock.