Railsplitters Earn Trip to Regional Championship & NCAA Division II Sweet 16

HICKORY, NC -- The night before the sixteenth ranked Lincoln Memorial men’s soccer team played ninth-ranked Carson-Newman in the semi-finals of the NCAA Appalachian Region Tournament, each player on the squad was given the opportunity to speak his mind in a player meeting.  Then each player took the remainder of the night to reflect on the season’s accomplishments and to focus on Thursday’s match.

 

On Thursday morning when the players took the field, their faces looked as though they were chiseled of stone and their actions were straight to the point.  The day was to be theirs, no personal vendettas and no selfish notions were going to stand in the way.  Simply put, nothing shy of a victory would be acceptable.

 

The first ninety minutes of the match was a near carbon copy of the match LMU had played with Carson-Newman in Harrogate this season.  It developed as one of the most grueling defensive struggles of the year and that was what was expected from two of the nation’s top ranked teams.

 

LMU took the offensive to Carson-Newman time and time again, earning numerous shots on goal throughout the game, but was unable to find pay-dirt.  Following the end of regulation, the match was sent into overtime and flashbacks to the 2005 Gulf South Conference Tournament Championship began to emerge.

 

Finally, in the 96^th minute, LMU’s Guilherme Alves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) delivered a corner kick from the far corner into the box.  After the ball ricocheted several times, Railsplitter sophomore Jordan Green (Pensacola, FL) punched it into the back of the net to end the game at 1-0 in the first overtime, sending the Railsplitters to the championship match and eliminating the Eagles from NCAA post season play.

 

The win marks the first time since the 1998 season the Railsplitters have defeated the Carson-Newman in men’s soccer.  With the victory, the Railsplitters denied the Eagles the opportunity to defend last year’s regional crown.

 

Saturday’s championship match will get underway at 1:00 p.m. in Hickory and will feature Lincoln Memorial taking on host and top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne.