Nikki Arthur converted a penalty kick late in the first half as Tusculum College defeated Queens University of Charlotte 1-0 in a Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament quarterfinal match Tuesday night at Pioneer Field.

The third-seeded Pioneers (10-6-3) will face second-seeded Wingate in Friday's semifinals, which will be played at 7 p.m. at Manchester Meadows in Rock Hill, S.C. Wingate defeated Newberry 1-0 in a quarterfinal match Tuesday afternoon. Queens is eliminated from the conference tournament with a record of 10-6-3.

Arthur scored her third goal of the season as she beat Royals keeper Jessyca Young on a penalty kick with exactly nine minutes left in the first half, and Pioneer keeper Marissa Williams and her defense shut down Queens on the opposite end of the field.

Williams made one save for her 11th shutout of the season, one shy of the school record set by Whitney Wardrop in 2006, and her fifth in a row. Williams has not allowed a goal in 480 minutes, 59 seconds and earned her seventh consecutive home shutout. The last visiting team to score at Pioneer Field was Belmont Abbey on Sept. 10, a stretch that dates back 689 minutes, 4 seconds without a goal in home matches.

Queens took the first four shots of the match, but all sailed harmlessly high or wide of the Tusculum net. The Pioneers first tested Young on shots by Katie Capel in the 28th minute and Gabrielle Whitt in the 31st minute, but the Royals keeper made the save on both attempts.

With exactly nine minutes left in the first half, Tusculum's Taylor Lewis was knocked to the ground as she looked to make a move inside the penalty area. Arthur was tapped to take the kick and responded to Young's dive toward the left post by rolling a shot inside the right post for a 1-0 Tusculum lead.

Queens finished the first half with a 5-3 shot advantage and a 5-1 lead in corner kicks, and went to work on those numbers early in the second half with four shot attempts in the first 10 minutes. The Royals put a shot on net in the 58th minute, but Williams was able to make the stop on the attempt from Brooke Foil.

The Royals' last shot came with just under 15 minutes left as Mary Stringini pushed a decent scoring chance well wide to the right. Tusculum nearly found an insurance tally with under four minutes remaining, but Lewis' attempt on a rush trickled wide of the far post. Queens attempted to rally in the closing moments, but Tusculum was able to defend its half of the field and the clock ran out.

Queens finished the match with an 11-6 advantage in shots and a 7-2 margin in corner kicks over Tusculum. Both teams were flagged once for offsides, and the Pioneers were called for seven fouls to five by the Royals.

Young turned aside three shots in goal for the Royals, after making five shots when the teams played to a 0-0 draw in Charlotte in the conference opener for both teams on Sept. 18.

Tusculum advances to face Wingate (13-2-3) in a rematch of last year's thrilling conference semifinal contest. The Pioneers carried a 1-0 lead into the latter stages of the second half before the Bulldogs connected on a penalty kick with 10 minutes remaining to tie the score. The match remained deadlocked into penalty kicks, where Wingate came out victorious by a 4-3 margin.

The Pioneers handed the Bulldogs their first of two losses this season on Sept. 29 in Greeneville by a score of 1-0, as Amy Neltner scored in the ninth minute and Williams made three saves for the shutout. Tusculum's defense held Wingate to just four shots in the match, none in the second half.

The other Food Lion SAC Tournament semifinal match will be between top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne (14-3-1) and fifth-seeded Lincoln Memorial (9-7-1). The Bears scored five unanswered goals to defeat Carson-Newman 5-1 while the Railsplitters were the lone visiting team to earn a semifinal win as they defeated Catawba 2-1 Tuesday night.

The championship match will be played Sunday at 4 p.m. at Manchester Meadows, with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.