Women's Soccer | 11/06/23 | 11:49 AM
HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Men's and Women's Soccer teams will each play an opening round game at the 2023 Cascade Collegiate Conference Soccer Championships this afternoon in Springfield, Ore.
2023 will be the first year since 2018 that both the Carroll Men (8-3-4, 8-2-3) and Women (11-1-4, 8-1-3) have qualified to play in the CCC postseason tournament.
The Carroll Men enter the championship as the conference's No. 4-seed, while the Carroll Women earned a No. 2-seed for the week's event.
On the Men's side, the Fighting Saints have far exceeded the expectations of many around the conference. The Men were selected to finish No. 11 in the conference's preseason coaches' poll, but proved all of them wrong with a strong showing in the regular season that saw them hold the top spot in the conference in early October.
The Saints have proven to be a quality defensive team in 2023. Carroll ranks third in the league in goals allowed (1.0 goals per game), while sitting at No.14 in the league in total saves (30), an average of just 2.14 per game. Juan Muniz Navarette (Hermiston, Ore. / SO) has been outstanding in net, but the whole back line for the Saints have helped make his job easy this season, allowing very few opportunities for teams to get quality chances.
Offensively,
Enrico Paparelli (Sao Paulo, Brazil / FR) has been a fantastic addition to the Saints roster. Paparelli leads the team with six goals on the season, with
Michal Mojzis (Bratislava, Slovakia / JR),
Luke Rosenberger (Eau Claire, Wisc. / SR) and captain
Caleb Hoxie (Helena, Mont. / SR) each posting three regular season goals behind him.
The Carroll Men will begin their pursuit of the postseason title with a 3 p.m. (MDT) showdown with Oregon Tech, whom they tied with in October at Nelson Stadium, 2-2.
On the Women's front, the Fighting Saints put together one of their best regular seasons in the program's 26 year history and will enter the week as the No. 2-seed.
The Saints dropped only one contest on the year, a 3-0 loss to No. 1-seed College of Idaho, and were rarely out-shot throughout the season.
Carroll averaged over 16 shots per game, and played much of the season on the opposing side of the pitch. They averaged 2.0 goals per game, while only allowing .62 goals against.
Senior midfielder
Emily Funseth (Great Falls, Mont. / SR) was named CCC Offensive Player of the Week three separate times, and finished third in the league with 10 goals scored on the year.
Maria Ackerman (Billings, Mont. / FR) was a brick wall in her first season in between the pipes, posting six shutouts, which was second in the CCC.
The Carroll Women, coming off of a 7-0 win in Great Falls last week, will play No. 7-seed Southern Oregon tonight at 6 p.m. in their opening round contest. Carroll and SOU played to a 1-1 tie at Nelson Stadium in the regular season in a game that Carroll fought the sunlight for the majority of the second half.
Both the Men's and Women's games can be viewed through Bushnell University's paid site,
HERE.
Live stats for the Men can be followed
HERE, and live stats for the Women can be followed
HERE.
Visit www.carrollathletics.com this evening for recaps of each game, as well as info on potential second-round contests and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
