In the preseason South Atlantic Conference poll, league coaches picked the Carson-Newman Eagles to finish #4 in the conference.
They finished #2 in the country. They played in the Division II national championship game. They lost to Southern New Hampshire, but they were there.
After a seven-game winning streak closed out the regular season, a 1-0 loss to Mars Hill in the SAC tournament left many feeling the season was over.
It was called a devastating loss, and even head coach Richard Moodie said, “It was a horrible way to end our season.”
But wait! The Eagles record and high regional ranking gave them a berth into the NCAA Division II postseason.
From there they would win six straight games to reach the Division II championship game.
Back-to-back wins over Anderson and Limestone, a pair of SAC opponents, earned the Eagles a trip to Winter Park, Fla. for the Southeast Regional.
They survived a penalty kick shootout after playing Lander to a 0-0 draw, and then knocked off Rollins, the home team, 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals in Pensacola, Fla., they knocked off Simon Fraser, 2-1.
In a back-and-forth contest that saw four goals scored in the second half, Joao Pedro Dowsley nailed the game-winner with just over a minute left in regulation.
“We kept working until the last minute,” Moodie said. “That’s what this team is built on. We’ve worked hard every minute.”
After a scoreless first half in the final, SNHU scored a goal for a 1-0 lead.
Southern New Hampshire got a penalty kick with four minutes left and took a 2-0 lead. Carson-Newman’s goal came with six seconds left on the clock, the 20th of the season for junior Ross Frame.
The game got chippy at the end. With just over to minutes left on the clock, a brawl broke out on the field that spread into the stands. At least one police officer came onto the field to help restore order.
Two Carson-Newman players and one from Southern New Hampshire were ejected.
“I’m proud of these guys,” Moodie said. “From day one, I knew there was something special about them. I looked them in the eyes and told them it was the best Carson-Newman team that I’ve ever seen… and that’s hard for me to say, because I played on one of them.”
The last time Carson-Newman made a run to the NCAA national quarterfinals, Moodie was playing for the Eagles.
Frame led the Eagles in scoring with 11 assists to go with his 20 goals, good for 51 points. His 20 goals were three shy from the school record, but good for #5 nationally.
Carson-Newman finished the year 16-6-1 and when the final Division II Men’s National Poll came out, the team predicted fourth best in the SAC was right there at #2 nationally.
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