The Bears, the No. 1 seed, won their first-ever league tournament title after beating the third-seeded Bulldogs and clinched their first trip to the NCAA Division II Playoffs. The pairings for the playoffs will be announced Monday evening at 7 p.m., via a webcast selection show on NCAA.com.
Lenoir-Rhyne, which captured its first SAC Regular Season Championship last Saturday, set a school record for wins in a season as it bested the 1997 squad.
After a scoreless first half, L-R finally got on the board in 55th minute when junior midfielder Kaelia Frazier (Cedar Falls, Iowa) scored her fourth goal on the year on a breakaway.
The Bears pushed the margin to 2-0 at the 67:38 mark when junior forward Laura Linehan (San Diego, Calif.) connected on a chip shot off a pass from the corner by sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Hawes (Valdese, N.C.).
The Bears remained on the attack and added another quick goal. Two and a half minutes later, Hawes also assisted on Lenoir-Rhyne's third and final goal of the contest when she found senior midfielder Audrey Moore (Dublin, IRELAND) for an open goal in the 70th minute. Both Linehan and Moore now have six goals on the year.
Wingate spoiled L-R's bid for the shutout when junior forward Kelly Adams (Matthews, N.C.) scored off a deflection on a goalkeeper save at the 71:40 mark. The Bulldogs, however, couldn't get any closer. The goal was Adams' fifth of the 2010 season.
Lenoir-Rhyne sophomore goalkeeper Caitlin Scruggs (Torrance, Calif.) picked up the win after allowing just one goal while saving seven shots. Wingate's goalkeeper, sophomore Miriam Boucher (Calgary, Alberta, CANADA), suffered the setback despite tallying five saves.
Junior midfielder Catherine Hauck, the 2010 Player of the Year, was named the tournament Most Valuable Player. Hauck had the only goal in Lenoir-Rhyne's 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Lincoln Memorial and added another goal in L-R's 2-0 semifinal victory over Newberry.
Joining Hauck on the All-Tournament team from Lenoir-Rhyne are Frazier, Moore and Scruggs. Wingate placed three on the All-Tournament team: Adams, Julie Zielinkski (Erie, Pa) and Samantha Baldwin (Stallings, N.C.) Also on the All-Tournament were Newberry goalkeeper Megan Hrenchir (Lawrence, Kan.) and defender Cassie Smith (Lyman, S.C) and Tusculum forward Patience Leonard (Greeneville, Tenn.) and forward Tramicka James.
Lenoir-Rhyne Coach Adrian Blewitt
Post-game interview video
"It was a really tight match. At halftime, both teams were playing a little cat and mouse. I thought we could catch them on a counter attack without opening ourselves too much. We had some forwards come on. I thought Lizzy Hawes was spectacular up front. We took some chances as well and then kind of played straight and narrow for the last 25 minutes and took care of business by doing what we needed to do defensively."
(On Kaelia Frazier's first goal) "It was obviously a huge goal. We thought it might be a 1-0 game and getting that first goal is a key because both teams have stingy defenses. When she runs at defenders like that, she's pretty unstoppable sometimes."
(On the play of goalie Caitlin Scruggs) "She's done very, very well. She's sometimes looks a bit deceiving. She's a short goalkeeper but a great shot stopper."
(On advancing to the NCAA Tournament) "Everything now's a bonus. But I don't think there's anybody there to fear in the region. We've seen most of the teams. Anything can happen when you get there. We're not going there just to be happy, we're going to try to win. We're going to try and extend this ride as long as we can."
Tournament Most Valuable Player Catherine Hauck post-game interview video
Wingate Coach Gary Curneen
Post-game interview video
"We got here with work ethic and determination and the effort and today Lenoir-Rhyne just matched that. It was a great game, a credit to them. I think they just edged us. It was a good advertisement for the South Atlantic Conference."
"Goals change games at any level. They got theirs, and we didn't react well enough to them. We gave it a go, but it was too much work to do."
(On the 2010 season) "The girls have been fantastic and credit to them and hopefully we can learn from this year. They broke a lot of records this year and we wanted to come here and bring something back to show for our work. But I think they can look back and be very, very proud of what they've done and hopefully set ourselves a little higher target next year."
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