PREVIEW: Men’s Soccer closes regular season with pivotal SAC match at Lenoir-Rhyne

HICKORY, N.C. – The regionally-ranked Catawba College men's soccer team prepares for its regular season finale against South Atlantic Conference rival Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday.

Saturday's Win at Newberry

- Despite falling behind early in the second half, Catawba found paydirt three times to drop the Wolves, 3-1

- Bautista Vecchi-Ramello, Tomas Kelly, and Tino Lira each booted a goal in the SAC victory as Jacopo Suagher had two assists and Salano Birch chipped in one

- Jaime Serrano and Greg Chatzopoulos both recorded complete games on the back line

- Joe Whitney made his second career start in net, logging two saves to improve to 2-0-1

Leading the Way

- Vecchi-Ramello's goal extended his team scoring lead to eight on Saturday as the Rosario, Argentina product has matched the 18 points he accumulated as a rookie in 2022

- Lira climbed to second in the points category, netting three goals with one assist for seven tallies, while Sebastia Cerda-Tous has also found the back of the net on three occasions

- Two assists from Suagher at Newberry lifted the junior defender to a share of the team lead with Kenny Hassler at three helpers

- Between the posts, Zak Stiffler has started in 12 of his 13 appearances with a 1.43 goals-against average and a .605 save percentage

- In three matches including two starts, Whitney has a .625 success rate and has posted a GAA of 1.33

Seed Scenarios

- The victory over Newberry secured a playoff spot for Catawba – the question is at which seed

- To host a SAC Tournament match as the No. 4 seed, Catawba needs a win over Lenoir-Rhyne, an Anderson loss to Newberry, and a Lincoln Memorial draw or loss to Emory & Henry. In that situation, Catawba and Anderson would both have 18 points with the tiebreaker going to Catawba via head-to-head victory. If LMU reaches 18 points due to a draw, Catawba also wins that tiebreaker on a head-to-head points comparison (1-0-1 vs. Anderson and LMU)

- However, the most likely scenario features wins for both Anderson and LMU, leaving the winner of Catawba/LR obtaining the sixth seed, while the loser takes seventh; in a draw, LR wins the tiebreaker due to defeating LMU

All-Time Series

- The blue and white lead the 52-match series 25-23-4 with a 110-86 goal differential

- In Hickory, Lenoir-Rhyne boasts a 12-10-2 edge bolstered by triumphs in six of the last seven meetings on home turf

- The Bears have won four contests in a row regardless of venue including the regular-season finales of both 2021 and 2022

- LR took back-to-back victories in November 2023 to end the Catawba Indians' season, 1-0 to end the regular season and 2-1 in the quarterfinal round of conference playoffs

Scouting the Bears

- Lenoir-Rhyne enters the matchup one game behind .500 at 6-7 with an even 5-5 ledger in SAC play

- The Bears topped Tusculum, 3-1, on Saturday after falling to fourth-ranked Limestone and Francis Marion in one-goal defeats at the Moretz Sports Athletic Campus

- Seven different players have multiple goals as LR's leading goal-scorer Raul Canas has four tallies with one assist

- Also at nine points for the Bears is Harri Rowe, netting two goals while dishing out a team-high five assists

- In goal, Cathal Carney is averaging 3.73 saves per match – the league's fourth-best mark – with a 1.47 goals-against average and a .732 save percentage

Follow Along

Tune in to the live broadcast on FloSports ($) or follow the live stats on lrbears.com.