Eagles look to take regular season momentum into postseason play

RALEIGH, NC – Wake Tech Women's Soccer open the NJCAA Region 10 tournament on Thursday, hosting Louisburg in the semifinals at WRAL Soccer Park on Thursday, October 19 at 1:30 p.m. The other semifinal is between the #1 seed Cape Fear and the #4 seed Richard Bland, and the winners of these two matches will play in the championship game on Saturday, hosted by the higher-seeded team.

The Eagles enter the tournament as the #2 seed, finishing the regular season with a 5-2 record and going 4-2 in conference play. They also enter the postseason with strong momentum, having won three of their last four matches, two of those coming against Louisburg.

"The team has grown in a good direction since preseason," head coach Enrique Rodriguez said. "The players adjust very well to our ideas as a staff and keep evolving. That experience is what we believe will help us succeed this postseason."

It will be the third matchup between the two teams this season, with the first two going the way of the Eagles. They most recently played on October 11, when Wake Tech held on for a 2-1 win on the road in a tightly contested contest.

The Eagles have scored 31 goals so far this season from eight different goal scorers. Sophomore forward Emily Parker is the team's top goal scorer (10) and has now reached double figures in consecutive seasons for Wake Tech. She has also recorded eight assists. Victoria Renna has also been a major contributor in attack, adding eight goals and four assists. Rodriguez understands the importance of Parker and Renna's contributions, but he knows that the entire team must work together to achieve their goals.

"We always have the principle that we are not a team that depends on individual efforts," Rodriguez said. "We are, and will be stronger if we work as a unit and are always supporting each other."

This game will be a rematch of last year's Region 10 semifinals. Last time it was Louisburg who won a 1-0 game to advance to the championship game. The winner of the NJCAA Region 10 Division II tournament will represent the region in the NJCAA South Atlantic District Championship Game against the Region 8 champion, with a spot in the NJCAA Division II Championship on the line.