BELMONT, N.C. — Fresh off winning the Conference Carolinas Tournament Championship, the Belmont Abbey women's soccer team returns to the pitch as the No. 8 seed Crusaders take on No. 1 seed Catawba in the first round of the NCAA Southeast Regional at 3 p.m. Friday.

The match will be played at Catawba's Frock Field. The winner of Friday's contest will play the winner of No. 4 seed Francis Marion and No. 5 seed Lander. The two winners will face off again at 3 p.m. Sunday in Salisbury. The No. 2 seed, North Georgia, is hosting the other regional in Dahlonega, Georgia. The Nighthawks are hosting No. 3 seed Columbus State, No. 6 seed Lenoir-Rhyne and No. 7 seed Anderson.

Belmont Abbey enters the tournament with a 16-4-1 record and earned the No. 2 seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament. The Crusaders defeated Lees-McRae (4-0), UNC Pembroke (3-1) and No. 18 Francis Marion (2-1) to earn the automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. It is the first time since the 2014 season that the Crusaders won the tournament title. Belmont Abbey had eight players earn all-conference honors, one shy of the program-best nine that made it back in 2015.

This is the first time that the Crusaders and Indians will face each other since the 2016 season, a match that finished in a 2-2 draw at Alumni Field. The Crusaders are making their ninth all-time appearance in the Division II Championship. Previous appearances date back to 1998, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014. In the last tournament appearance  in 2014, the Crusaders fell 4-1 to North Georgia.

The farthest that Belmont Abbey has advanced in the tournament was the third round after defeated Pfeiffer and Lenoir-Rhyne to make it to the third round in 2013. The winners of the two Southeast Regionals will face off on Sunday, November 30 with the winner advancing to play the winner of the South Regional on December 7th.

Four teams will advance to the semifinals and championship, which takes place December 11-13 at Weidner Field at Colorado Springs, Colo.

Full coverage and live stats for this weekend's regional can be found here. 
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