GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University women's soccer field will take to the field this spring for an eight-game schedule that features an unusual look for anything but an ordinary time.
Spring 2021 Tusculum Women's Soccer Schedule
Instead of playing each of its South Atlantic Conference opponents once as part of its regular season schedule, the Pioneers and the rest of the league were divided into three "pods" of four teams apiece. The pods were split up geographically in order to reduce travel and the amount of missed class time for the student-athletes.
Joining Tusculum in its pod will be longtime rivals Mars Hill, Lincoln Memorial and Carson-Newman. The Pioneers will play a home-and-away round-robin series with the Lions, Railsplitters and Eagles.
Head coach Mike Joy begins his 24th season on the Tusculum sidelines with 276 wins as Pioneer head coach and 362 overall victories. Joy is the winningest coach in conference history with 109 league wins, and 253 overall wins since Tusculum joined the SAC for the 1999 season.
"We are excited to have an opportunity to play matches this spring, and hoping that we navigate it without interruption," said Joy. "We played a lot of intrasquad scrimmages in the fall, so it will be nice to play other teams. While the season is greatly reduced, it provides us an opportunity to compete for a SAC Tournament Championship. We hope this will challenge our student-athletes to train and prepare for a meaningful spring season."
Tusculum will be playing two designated non-conference games during the 2021 spring season, including the season opener at Catawba on Thursday, Feb. 18. The Indians were 11-4-3 during the 2019 season and went 6-1-3 in conference play for fourth place. Catawba lost to Lincoln Memorial in the SAC Championship quarterfinals, but earned an NCAA Tournament berth and fell 3-0 to Flagler in the first round. The Indians beat the Pioneers 2-0 during the 2019 regular season and are now 10-10-4 all-time in the series.
The Pioneers' first conference match will be Thursday, Feb. 25 at Pioneer Field against Mars Hill. The Lions upset the Pioneers 3-2 at home in 2019 and finished the year in tenth place in the SAC at 2-8-0 in league play and 2-13-1 overall. The Pioneers have more victories over the Lions than any other opponent, holding a 23-7 edge in the all-time series.
Tusculum will visit Lincoln Memorial on Thursday, March 4 for the first of two meetings with the Railsplitters. LMU tied for fifth in the conference at 6-4-0 during 2019, then defeated Catawba, Lenoir-Rhyne and Wingate to claim the SAC Championship title. The Railsplitters beat UNC Pembroke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before being ousted 2-1 by Flagler in the second round, as LMU finished the year at 17-5. The Railsplitters beat the Pioneers 3-1 in their 2019 meeting, but the Pioneers still lead the all-time series by a 16-9-3 margin.
Carson-Newman will pay a visit to Pioneer Field on Thursday, March 11. The Eagles finished the 2019 season tied for second place in the SAC at 7-2-1, and ended the year at 10-6-1 after a loss to Queens in the SAC Championship quarterfinals. The Eagles beat the Pioneers 3-2 in overtime in the regular-season finale, trimming Tusculum's lead in the all-time series to 19-18-2.
Tusculum's second non-conference match will be on Sunday, March 14 at Lenoir-Rhyne. The Bears claimed the 2019 SAC regular-season championship with an 8-2 record, then beat Newberry in the quarterfinals before a 1-0 loss to Lincoln Memorial in the semifinals. Lenoir-Rhyne fell 4-0 to Wingate in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament to end the year with a record of 15-4. The Bears beat the Pioneers 4-0 in their regular-season matchup to extend their lead in the all-time series to 17-12-3.
The Pioneers will close the second half of pod play with trips to Mars Hill on Thursday, March 18 and to Carson-Newman on Thursday, March 25. Tusculum wraps up the regular season at home on Thursday, April 1 against Lincoln Memorial.
After the regular season ends, the records from all three pod groups will be merged into a full 12-team standings, followed by the SAC Championship tournament at Matthews, North Carolina. Semifinal matches will be played Friday, April 9 and the final will be Sunday, April 11.
