Columbus State Advances to Women's Soccer Region Final 3-0 over Carson-Newman

Columbus, GA - Columbus State (19-3-1) got three first-half goals and then defended its way to a 3-0 shutout win over second-seeded Carson-Newman in the second round of the NCAA Division II Southeast regional. The win for the third-seeded Lady Cougars advances them to the Southeast Regional final to face top-seeded Tusculum at a yet-to-be-determined site and also sets a new school mark for wins in a season with 19.

CSU got on the board just over 18 minutes into play as Stephanie Parrish scored her 15th goal of the season off a pass from Kassy Boivin. The goal came at the 18:10 mark and gave CSU all the offense it would need. Parrish, however, was not finished.

The freshman All-Conference performer took a slip pass from Hannah Ospina just less than four minutes later and found the back of the net again for her 16th score of the year. The goal came at the 22:04 mark, giving the Lady Cougars a 2-0 lead.

The third goal for CSU came from an unlikely source in the 40th minute. Midfielder Hillary Holder found the ball at her feet 15 yards out after Leslie Matthews punched it to her out of a scrum with an Eagle defender and Holder delivered a blistering shot into the upper left side of the goal. The score was her first of the season - and her career - and came on the 12th shot on goal of her short CSU career. CSU took the 3-0 margin into the break.

The second half saw CSU become more defensive and willing to use defense and possession to burn clock time. CSU got off just two shot in the period - one of those a bid for a hat-trick by Parrish that Eagles keeper Melissa Terrell made a nice save on - while Carson-Newman picked up the pace and got off 10 shots at CSU keeper Monica Sanchez. The majority of the Eagle shots were high or wide, but Sanchez did collect one save in the period.

In all, Carson-Newman (14-6) out-shot CSU 14-10, thanks to a 10-2 advantage in the second half. CSU led in corner kicks by a 6-4 margin, while the Eagles held a 9-7 advantage in fouls.

CSU will now await word on Monday as to the location of Friday's contest with Tusculum. CSU did submit a bid for the second weekend of play, while Tusculum did not, but the final decision on location will be made by the NCAA on Monday.