HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The nationally ranked No. 5 Cobra men's soccer team is set to not only to play in their first ever NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Regional, but also host their first regional on Friday evening. 

The top seeded Cobras will host the #4 seed Lions of Mars Hill College in the first round of the tournament at the Coker Soccer Field on Friday night at 7 p.m.

Coker and Mars Hill have faced off twice in the last two years splitting their two meetings. The Cobras won the first meeting in 2009 with a score of 2-0 at Mars Hill, while the Lions picked up a 3-0 victory in 2010 in Hartsville.

The Cobras enter this meeting having won both the Conference Carolinas Regular Season and Tournament titles, while finishing the season with a record of 18-2 over and 10-1 in conference play.

The Lions, also playing in their first ever NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament, enter the game with a 12-5-1 overall record. They defeated the #5 seed Montevallo Falcons on Wednesday in the Opening Round of the tournament to advance to play Coker.

Leading the Cobras are six Conference Carolinas All-Conference selections including conference Player of the Year Carlos Recinos, who leads the team in goals (13), assists (10) and points (36), and First Team All-Conference goalkeeper James Sweeney, who is third in the NCAA in goals against average and has 10 shutouts on the year.

The Lions are led by Stephen Bivens who has eight goals and two assists and Rury Caulfield has six goals and three assists.

The winner of the Coker/Mars Hill match will take on the winner of the Flagler/Lees-McRae match in the Second Round match on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the Coker Soccer Field.

OFFICIAL NCAA DIVISION II SOUTHEAST REGION WEBPAGE