SALISBURY, N.C. — The 18th-ranked Catawba College women's soccer team opens the South Atlantic Conference Championship Tournament as the No. 1 seed, hosting eighth-seeded Anderson in the quarterfinal round on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
The Catawba Indians begin postseason play at home for the seventh consecutive season after clinching back-to-back SAC regular-season crowns. The blue and white enter with an 11-4-2 overall record (8-1-1 in conference) and a No. 18 ranking in the IWSOC Coaches' Poll. NPI rankings, the metric for NCAA Tournament seeding, have Catawba slated for the No. 3 position in the Southeast Regional.
Bree Ehmer leads the Catawba Indians in scoring with 10 goals including a league-high eight strikes against SAC competition. The senior from Melbourne, Fla., matched the second-best career goals mark in program history with her brace on Wednesday against Coker. Cadence Setzer's 11 assists pace the conference and rank fourth in Catawba history; she needs five more to tie the record. Ella Matthews has done a bit of everything offensively, registering seven goals and five assists from her midfielder post. Kate Robinson and Kaitlyn Johnson are also mainstays in a midfield that has deprived many opponents from conducting business in the attacking half.
Reigning all-conference selections Ali Skinner and Reese Robinson remain potent on the back line. Sophomores Riley Alexander and Molly Shields as well as freshman Brynn Calendine have emerged as key pieces in the defensive effort. Primary netminder Lauren Zitt has spent over 1,200 minutes between the posts with a .743 save percentage and 1.30 goals-against average, tallying five shutouts.
Catawba players have earned four WePlayed Sports Player of the Week honors, more than all other SAC programs. Ehmer, Matthews and Setzer have each bagged Offensive POTW laurels once with Zitt claiming one Defensive POTW award. Ehmer was the D2CIDA National Player of the Week back on Sept. 15 with a nine-point (three goals, three assists) performance across wins over Francis Marion and Mars Hill.
Know the Foe
Catawba has faced Anderson in each of the past two tournaments, defeating the Trojans to take the 2025 crown after being stunned with a quarterfinal loss in overtime during the 2024 season. The black and gold battled Catawba to a draw at Spero Financial Field this regular season using an 86th-minute equalizer; they wound up being one of just two programs to earn a point against the Catawba Indians.
Owning a record of 6-7-2 with a 3-5-2 in-league split, AU started strong but has gone winless for the past month; its last victory came against non-conference foe Clayton State (Sept. 30). Kaitlyn Gregory is the top offensive weapon with 15 points on four goals and seven assists, but three-goal Gabby Kirchner netted the Trojans' latest strike in a 1-1 draw with Lincoln Memorial. AU's strength is in its defense, which has yet to concede more than two goals in a game and holds the conference's top goals-against average. Goalkeeper Aliyah Morgan, who missed time after being called up to the Jamaican National Team in October, is a large piece of the puzzle for the Trojans.
Around the Bracket
Outside of Catawba securing the top seed two weeks ago, the rest of the league was an unstable mess in the home stretch. The gap from third to ninth place in the SAC finished at a five-point difference with tiebreakers needed for the fifth and eighth playoff seeds; Anderson won the latter via a 2-0 win over Emory & Henry, eliminating the Wasps from contention.
The winner of Catawba/Anderson meets the winner of No. 4 seed Wingate and No. 5 Lincoln Memorial in Matthews, N.C., for the semifinal round on Friday, Nov. 6. Lenoir-Rhyne is the favorite to come out of the other side of the bracket in the No. 2 spot as third-seeded Carson-Newman also hosts a quarterfinal fixture on Saturday. The championship match is slated for Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Sportsplex at Matthews.
Follow Along
Links to purchase tickets to all Catawba postseason matches can be found on the website's schedule page. All SAC contests are streamed live on FloCollege. Live stats for the Catawba/Anderson quarterfinal, both semifinals, and the final will be available at catawbaathletics.com/sidearmstats/wsoc.
