Eagles Host FMU in NCAA Opener Wednesday Night

Nov. 11, 2008

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman Eagles begin what they hope will be a lengthy NCAA Tournament stay on Wednesday night when they host Francis Marion in Jefferson City. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. on McCown Field.

The C-N/FMU winner will advance to face Tusculum on Friday night in Greeneville, Tenn.

The Eagles received an at-large bid on the strength of an 11-4-2 record and a share of the South Atlantic Conference Championship. C-N also stepped out of conference for three regular season matches against teams that reached the NCAA Tournament field, including a 5-0 win in September against Francis Marion.

"We played well against them the first time we met," Eagle head coach Allen Vital said Tuesday. "They really did a nice job of possessing the ball, but we were able to get some breaks early in the win."

C-N will hope for a repeat of the first meeting, when Ben Backstrom (Knoxville, Tenn.) scored twice in the first 11 minutes as C-N moved out to a quick lead. Junior All-American Thomas Ostvold (Stavanger, Norway) would add the Eagles' third goal in the 19th minute in the men's first game under the lights at Mossy Creek.

Francis Marion (13-4-3) is one of the nation's hottest teams coming into the NCAA Tournament. The Patriots have not lost in 14 matches, including an unbeaten regular season (5-0-1) in the Peach Belt Conference, and a 2-0 showing to win the conference tournament. However, the Patriots went 0-2-1 against the South Atlantic Conference in the regular season with losses to C-N and Wingate, and a tie at Lenoir-Rhyne.