August 25, 2021

Eagles tagged fifth in SAC preseason poll

For the sixth straight season, Carson-Newman finds a place within the top-five of the South Atlantic Conference preseason poll as voted on by the coaches and announced by the league on Wednesday.

ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the sixth straight season, Carson-Newman finds a place within the top-five of the South Atlantic Conference preseason poll as voted on by the coaches and announced by the league on Wednesday.

Heading into the first full season for the SAC since 2019, the reigning SAC Tournament Champions, the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears, take the first spot in the preseason poll with 128 points and eight first-place votes. Closely behind L-R are the Catawba College Catawba Indians in the second position with 124 points and four first-place votes. Projected third in the preseason poll is the Queens Royals who see 108 points to their name, right in front of the slotted fourth-place Wingate Bulldogs with 97 points. C-N comes in at number five with a total of 94 points. After C-N, the Limestone Saints collect 85 total points as they head into their first full season as a member of the SAC in 2021-22.

"The preseason polls are what they are. I want to see come November where we stand. It's up to us now to go out and show what we're made of. Excited to get out and play with the goals in mind," Carson-Newman head coach Simon Duffy said. "We're excited to welcome opponents here to McCown Field. We haven't seen a lot over the previous years, so we're excited to get back out there."

Under the direction of Duffy, the Lady Eagles have been continually selected as a preseason top-five pick with this year's fifth-place projection being the lowest for C-N since 2014-15 when the Eagles were projected fifth as well. Since Duffy has taken over the helm, the Eagles have seen a third-place projection prior to the spring 2021 campaign, second-place projection in 2019, and first-place projection in both 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The last time C-N took to the pitch was on April 5 when the Eagles were handed a slim 1-0 defeat in the SAC Quarterfinals by the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne. The Eagles now turn their attention to a whole new slate as they start the year with a "Battle of the Birds" as the North Georgia Nighthawks pay Mossy Creek a visit on Sept. 2 at 3 p.m.

"We have had strong returners plus having three girls coming in which will produce for us," Duffy said. "We need to get back to winning Conference and competing in this league in order to reach a high level of competition."

The Eagles are lucky enough to have all their 2021 production returning with the addition of three new Eagles for the fall season. C-N will be led once again by reigning SAC Offensive Player of the Year, Emilee Futrell. Futrell finished her spring 2021 season as a member of the All-SAC first-team alongside teammate Addie Henry. Meanwhile, the Wilson, N.C. native also saw a spring 2021 campaign where she tied for the SAC lead in goals with Ria Acton of Lenoir-Rhyne with six apiece and held the second most shot attempts with 34 including netting three game-winners to lead the SAC.

C-N will also see the return of second-team All-SAC member and senior defender, Lira Mathes. In the spring of 2021, Mathes found the back of the net three separate times as she attempted five shots and had four fall on frame. Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball, Mathes helped C-N secure two shutouts (Mars Hill and Tusculum) and held C-N opponents to a .121 shot percentage.

"The SAC is getting better and better. There are teams we haven't seen in a couple of years. Really excited to get back on the road and have teams face the girls here at McCown Field," Duffy said. "With these rankings coming out, I'll be sure to let the girls know where we stand and hope we can add some trophies to our name come November."

The remainder of the preseason poll top 10 are newly added Limestone in the sixth place spot with 85 points, followed by Lincoln Memorial with 78 points in seventh, Tusculum with 57 points and an eighth-place projection, Anderson at ninth with 50 points, and Newberry right behind in 10th with 49 points. The final two spots are Mars Hill with 31 points and Coker with 23 points ahead of the fall 2021 campaign.

The season is slated to start on Sept. 2 against the Nighthawks of North Georgia with a 3 p.m. kickoff. All C-N home matches this season can be streamed online via cneagles.com/live. Be sure to keep up with the Eagles on Twitter at @CNWSoccer and everything C-N on social media.

2021 SAC Women's Soccer PRESEASON COACHES' POLL

Rank	School (First Place Votes)	Points
1.	Lenoir-Rhyne (8)	128
2.	Catawba (4)	124
3.	Queens	108
4.	Wingate	97
5.	Carson-Newman	94
6.	Limestone	85
7.	Lincoln Memorial	78
8.	Tusculum	57
9.	Anderson	50
10.	Newberry	49
11.	Mars Hill	31
12.	Coker	23