Sunday, November 14, 2004

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum College got goals from three different players with senior Paul Hopkins (Portsmouth, England) contributing a goal and an assist as the 14^th-ranked Pioneers advanced to the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Elite Eight with a 3-0 win over No. 2 Carson-Newman College in the Appalachian Region Final Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Field. (Box Score)

Carson-Newman (17-2-1), who started the season 17-0-1, loses its last two matches of the year to the Pioneers, who improve to 17-2-2 and will face the University of Southern Illinois, Edwardsville next weekend.

It took over 40 minutes for the first goal of the match. Hopkins fed freshman Damion Scott (Brampton, Ontario) just inside the 18-yard box whose shot slipped past the C-N goalkeeper. TC took a 1-0 lead into the halftime break.

Hopkins dented the back of the net three minutes into the second half to up the lead to 2-0. Junior Justin Vanmatre (St. Louis, Mo.) fed freshman Tony Prisco (Woodbridge, Va.) down the right side, who then crossed the ball into the goal area to Hopkins' head.

Carson-Newman appeared to pull within one at 67:03, but the goal was disallowed on an offsides call. Less than a minute later, a TC goal was also taken off the board on an offsides call.

Freshman Gareth Williams (Wrexham, Wales) added the insurance tally at the 71:40 mark. Williams dribbled down the left side, crossed over towards the middle and fired a shot to the right side of the net.

TC netminder J.P. Swaminathan (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) made three stops in notching his sixth shutout of the season. South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year Tyler Baldock (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada) had nine saves for the Eagles.