FORMER BIG SOUTH FOES MEET IN NCAA TOURNAMENT ON THURSDAY

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MATCH INFORMATION

SETTING THE STAGE

Radford makes its fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament after ending a 16-year absence without a Big South Tournament Championship on Sunday.
The Highlanders swept the Big South championships for the first time in program history, winning its seventh regular-season title and third consecutive with a 7-1 record in league play.
Radford and Coastal Carolina will be meeting for the 53^rd time in the head-to-head series, which the Chanticleers lead 23-21-8.
The two former Big South foes met earlier in the season on Sept. 24 as Coastal Carolina tallied a late second half goal for a 2-1 victory.
The last contest in Conway between the two teams came on Oct. 31, 2015 as the matchup ended in a 0-0 draw.

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

Record: 14-3-2
Radford captured the Big South Tournament Championship with its 10^th shutout of the season in a 1-0 victory over in-state foe Longwood on Sunday.
The two foes were locked in a defensive battle for the first 80 minutes of the contest, before Sivert Daehlie collected his fourth game winning goal on the season off a Fraser Colmer cross.
The 10^th shutout matches a program single-season record set in 1991.
In addition, Aitor Pouseu Blanco collected her 25^th career clean sheet, setting a new Big South career mark.
The Highlanders have once again been one of the best defensive teams in the country, ranking in the Top-10 nationally in five different categories. Radford conceded only one goal in Big South regular-season play, while holding opponents to only 11 goals on the season.
Radford moved up to fifth nationally with a 0.56 goals against average, while Pouseu Blanco ranks eighth individually in save percentage (.844) and goals against (0.537).
Radford has been strong offensively of late, scoring nine goals by seven different players in its last five matches. All but one of the tallies were set up by assists and it totaled nine helpers in all.
A total of eight Highlanders have tallied multiple goals, with six contributing multiple assists.

SCOUTING COASTAL CAROLINA

Record: 9-6-3
Coastal Carolina punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 1-0 over Georgia State on Sunday.
The Chanticleers captured the Sun Belt's Regular Season and Tournament Championships in their inaugural season in the league.
The NCAA Tournament appearance is the 14^th overall for the Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina will additionally be hosting a tournament game for the seventh time – sixth time in as many years.
After Coastal Carolina's 2-1 win over the Highlanders, the Chanticleers posted an 8-2-2 record over its last 12 matches.
Frantzdy Pierrot leads the team with seven goals and five assists for a team best 19 points.
Following Pierrot, Martin Melchor has tallied five goals and five assists for 15 points.
Of Coastal Carolina's 20 goals, six different players have found the back of the net with four scoring multiple goals.
The match is set to be a defensive battle as Braulio Linares-Ortiz ranks seventh in the country with a .845 save percentage
Linares-Ortiz has allowed only 11 goals on the season in 16 games, while the Chanticleer defense has yielded only 15 goals.

UP NEXT

The winner will advance to meet No. 2 national seed Wake Forest on Sunday at Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Players Mentioned