November 6, 2025

Eagles open SAC Tournament with third-seeded Anderson

For the third straight season, Carson-Newman (8-4-3) hits the road for the South Atlantic Conference Tournament quarterfinal round as it heads to third-seeded Anderson (9-4-2) to begin postseason play tomorrow evening at 5:00 p.m.

Carson-Newman

8-5-3, 4-3-3

Anderson (S.C.)

10-4-2, 6-3-1

Final	1	2	T
Carson-Newman (8-5-3, 4-3-3)	0	0	0
Anderson (S.C.) (10-4-2, 6-3-1)	1	1	2

VIDEO: Carson-Newman vs Anderson Nov. 1 Highlights

VIDEO: Carson-Newman vs Tusculum Cinematic Highlights

C-N Match Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the third straight season, Carson-Newman (8-4-3) hits the road for the South Atlantic Conference Tournament quarterfinal round as it heads to third-seeded Anderson (9-4-2) to begin postseason play tomorrow evening at 5:00 p.m.

"It's going to be tough," Carson-Newman head coach Simon Duffy said. "They are a very good squad. They finished above us in the league table and the table doesn't lie. We are where we are and we'll take that. We are far from done. Excited to play Anderson again because its still an open wound that we didn't finish off all the way. They are going to be ready for us. We just need to go down there and compete."

Carson-Newman heads into the postseason on a two-match unbeaten streak and is unbeaten in eight of its past nine matches. The Eagles erupted for four goals to shutout Tusculum on Wednesday. It's the fifth time this season it has scored four goals or more in a game. C-N now begins its journey toward winning an eighth South Atlantic Conference Championship. Under head coach Simon Duffy, the Eagles are 7-7 in the South Atlantic Conference tournament and are 4-4 in the quarterfinal round.

Felicia Frick's final home game on McCown Field will be one she remembers quite well. The senior midfielder recorded her first career hat trick in Carson-Newman's 4-0 shutout win over Tusculum in the regular season finale. Frick scored goals in the 10th, 21st and 67th minutes to record the program's first hat trick since October of 2021. Two of her three goals were penalty kicks. Selina Jud also scored in the finale, giving C-N three players with at least six goals this season (Bukiewicz, Frick, Jud). It's just the second season under Duffy that has featured three players scoring at least six goals. The first occasion came during the 2017 season when four different players scored at least six times.

After just a combined seven shutouts over the past two seasons, Carson-Newman's defense has seven just this year in 15 matches. It's the most clean sheets for the program in a season since 2021. Junior goalkeeper Berna Kabakci has been one of the top goalies in the conference this year, ranking third in the league in save percentage (.825) and goals against average (0.85).

Saturday's showdown will be the second time in the past three seasons C-N and Anderson tangle in the SAC quarterfinal round. The Eagles won at AU in 2023 thanks to a Felicia Frick game-winning goal in the 108th minute of extra time.

The two sides met just one week ago, with Carson-Newman's Bukiewicz scoring in the final seconds to tie the Trojans at one. AU's Ansley Douty started the scoring in the 5th minute but the Trojans defense could not hold off a C-N offense that compiled 22 shots, nine of which went on target. It was just the second time that AU and C-N have played to a draw in a series with 25 meetings.

Anderson enters postseason play 9-4-2 overall this season and has wins in its three of its past five contests. Its SAC wins in the regular season were versus Lincoln Memorial, Mars Hill, Lenoir-Rhyne, Tusculum, Emory & Henry and Newberry to end the regular season.

Along with earning the third-seed in the SAC tournament, the Trojans are also one of five SAC schools in the top team of the NCAA's Southeast Region rankings. AU was the slotted eighth and would be the last team in the field if the season ended today.

The Trojans are led by Ansley Douty's seven goals and five assists this season. Camryn Woods has also been a reliable scorer for AU with five goals including one last time out. AU's offense has just the ninth-most goals scored in the conference this season with 23. They are below average in shots and shots on goal as well, but do rank highly in corner kicks per match. The Trojans get almost seven per game, the second-most in the SAC and 10th most in DII.

Anderson's calling card is its defense. The Trojans have seven shutouts this year and have only allowed 13 goals in 15 matches. Goalkeeper Aliyah Morgan's 0.87 goals against average mark is fourth in the SAC, just a few percentage points behind C-N's Kabakci. Morgan has 52 saves on the year and saves 80 percent of the shots in her direction.

First touch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. from Spero Financial Field. A video stream is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/floWsoc.