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HICKORY, North Carolina | The No. 14 University of North Georgia women's soccer team kicks off its run in the 2014 NCAA Division II Tournament on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. against Belmont Abbey. The game is being held at Lenoir-Rhyne's Moretz Sports Athletic Complex in Hickory, N.C.
The NCAA Tournament appearance is the third in the past for years for head coach
Chris Adams' team. The Nighthawks advanced to the second round in both 2011 and 2012.
LRU is the regional host as the second seed and will face the winner of Friday's match on Sunday afternoon.
The meeting will be the second of the season with BAC with the Nighthawks taking a 2-0 decision over the Crusaders on September 20 on BAC's home field as North Georgia netted two goals in the final 13 minutes. The game remained scoreless until the 77:54 mark when
Mollie Arrendale gave the Nighthawks the lead with an unassisted marker from the left side of the box. Freshman forward
Rachel VanHorn sealed the match 12 minutes later on a close range goal from the middle of the box after
Sophia Matonak's attempt hit the right post.
The meeting is the sixth between the two schools with North Georgia winning four of the five previous encounters.
The Crusaders are playing in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time as they gained the Conference Carolinas automatic berth with a 1-0 win over Pfeiffer. This is the second straight year the Crusaders will travel to Hickory for the NCAA Tournament.
UNG, ranked No. 14 in the most recent NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division II poll, earned an at-large bid following a 16-win season that included a run to the 2014 Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship game.
