HARROGATE, Tenn. — After a gut-wrenching loss at top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday night, the Lincoln Memorial University men's soccer team gets back to business in South Atlantic Conference play right away.
 
The Railsplitters (6-3-2, 3-2-1 SAC), who are tied in fifth place alongside Carson-Newman with 10 points, will host second-ranked Tusculum College (6-5-1, 4-2-1) at the LMU Soccer Complex, in yet another match with postseason implications.
 
 The Basics
 
Wednesday, Oct. 17 — 3:30 p.m.
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Quick Hits
 
- This is one of the last two regular-season home matches for the Railsplitters. It's just as, if not more, important if LMU would have beaten LR to set up a winner moves into second place game versus Tusculum.
 
- For the second straight match on Saturday, the Railsplitters saw goals from Victor Peres and Matteo Bufalo. Peres scored the SAC's second-best and team-leading eighth goal while Bufalo deposited his third, good for second best among the Railsplitters.
 
- The senior Peres, who had a hat trick versus North Georgia last Wednesday, sits in second place among the SAC with 18 points and third in shots (36). Peres' efforts — scoring four goals on eight shots, and six on goal, between the two matches — earned him Astroturf SAC Men's Soccer Player of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. 
 
- Though junior Felipe de Sousa didn't have an assist in the 3-2 loss Saturday, he still paces the league and his squad, who has won the last three of four matches, with the most (6).
 
Know the Opponent
 
- Tusculum has been on a roll as of late, winning the last four of five games and outscoring its opponents 9-1, with the other being a scoreless draw at Anderson Saturday.
 
- The Pioneers have been carried by their goalkeeper Alejandro Quiriti, who is second in goals-against-average (0.98), second in goals against (11) and fourth in save percentage (.738) among the conference teams.

- The junior allowed four goals in the first two conference losses. Since then, he's shutout four SAC teams, allowing just one goal to LR last Wednesday in an overtime, 2-1, win.
 
- On the offensive side, Ayuk Tamble leads the team with five goals, while Henrique Devens has four and Oscar Rubio Jimenez and Dario Ljubic have two apiece.
 
- Tamble and Ljubic have passed across three assists to lead the Pioneers. Fabian Proesch follows with two.
 
Head-to-Head
 
- In the last six meetings since 2014, and playing twice in 2016, the series sits at 0-2-4, with LMU being on the losing end. Of those six matchups, five have been a result from overtime, if that gives any indication how close Wednesday's match will be.
 
- The Railsplitters enter the SAC clash last beating Tusculum in 2013, a 2-1 win. A win for either team would give them the one-game advantage in a series that sits at 12-12-6.