BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Mitchell Cardenas scored one goal and set up the other Saturday and Campbell earned home field advantage in the quarterfinal round of the Big South tournament with a 2-0 victory at Gardner-Webb.
Fourth-seeded Campbell (12-5-1, 7-3 Big South) will host fifth seed High Point Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Big South tourney. The Camels stand 7-1 at home this year with their only loss coming Oct. 10 at the hands of league regular season champion Coastal Carolina.
Big South quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal round Friday (Nov. 9) at Bryan Park in Greensboro, N.C. The conference final is set for Sun., Nov. 11 at Bryan Park.
Cardenas put the Camels in front in the fifth minute with his eighth goal of the year. He then set up Justin Franz in the 20th minute for his league-leading 12th assist.
Ethan Hall had to make only one save while registering his 7th shutout of the year in the Campbell nets as the Camels won their 5th-straight contest against a Big South foe.
The Camels finished with a 25-6 edge in shots, 9-1 in attempts on target. Campbell took 12 corner kicks to only three for Gardner-Webb (4-13-2, 3-5-2), which will be seeded seventh in next week's conference tournament.
Campbell held Gardner-Webb to only two shots in the first half (none on target). The Camels led by two before the Bulldogs managed their first shot attempt (by John Sargent in the 24th minute).
Since losing back-to-back league games to Liberty (1-0 on Oct. 5) and No.-12 Coastal Carolina (3-1 on Oct. 10), the Camels have outscored their Big South opposition 17-4. Included in that 5-win span was a 2-1 victory over No.-25 High Point.
Cardenas moved into a tie with Juha Miettinen (1987-90) for seventh place on Campbell's all-time assists list. A senior from Mexico City, Cardenas has 76 points on 22 goals and 32 assists in 75 career matches. He rates 15th on the school's all-time points list.
Tuesday, Nov. 6 (at Highest Seeds)
Game 1: #4 Campbell vs. #5 High Point, 7:00pm
Game 2: #1 Coastal Carolina vs. #8 Presbyterian, 7:00pm
Game 3: #3 Liberty vs. #6 Winthrop, 6:00pm
Game 4: #2 Radford vs. #7 Gardner-Webb, 6:00pm
Friday, Nov. 9 (Bryan Park, Greensboro, N.C.)
Game 5: winner game 1 vs. winner game 2, 4:00pm
Game 6: winner game 3 vs. winner game 4, 7:00pm
Sunday, Nov. 11 (Bryan Park, Greensboro, N.C.)
Game 7: winner game 5 vs. winner game 6, 2:00pm
