Men’s soccer heads to Young Harris for regional match

YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Carson-Newman (4-2) men's soccer prepares for Young Harris (6-1) - a crucial regional match – Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

"This is a very good team we've got on the schedule with Young Harris," Carson-Newman head soccer coach Richard Moodie said. "This is a good opportunity to benchmark ourselves."

Carson-Newman is coming off a big 7-1 win against conference opponent Brevard on Saturday. The win is Carson-Newman's largest since a 6-0 win over Newberry in 2004 and the most points the Eagles have scored in a single game since putting up eight against Montreat in the same year.

"With all these injuries," Moodie said, "we've got players coming off the bench and playing good soccer."

Ross Frame (Welshpool, Powys, United Kingdom) put up two goals and an assist while both Sindre Welo (Trondheim, Norway) and Kristian Speake (Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom) also each had two goals.

Nico Noll (Esens, Niedersachsen, Germany) had the second goal for the Eagles, his first of the season.

Junior midfielder Jake Fielder (Talbot, Tenn.) had two assists while Pereira, Jalen Goddard (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and senior captain Matheus Bachi (Caxias do Sul, Brazil) each had one.

"We have enjoyed playing Young Harris the past three years," Moodie said. "We had a close match against them last year when we lost 3-2 in the last minute of the game."

Last season, the Eagles fell to Young Harris 3-2 after Niall McCabe scored in the 88^th minute. McCabe also had the first goal of the match 38 minutes into the first half off a ball from Lewis Hilton.

Eight minutes into the second, Hilton lofted a ball into the box for Illja Ilic to head in.

In the 77^th minute, Rurik Pereira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) put up the first point, unassisted, for the Eagles. Ten minutes later, Christopher Trejo (Guatemala City, Guatemala) sent a ball in from the left side of the box to Matt Craine (Morristown, Tenn.), since graduated. Craine put the ball just over the goalkeeper to tie it up.

McCabe's late goal was assisted by Ilic. He shot the ball in from just left of the box, slipping it past the keeper.

The Mountain Lions also are coming off a win on Saturday after defeating Flagler 3-1. Flagler opened the scoring in the 11^th minute. Young Harris responded seven minutes later when Alex Wyper blasted a shot into the left upper 90 from 22 yards out.

Wyper got all three goals for Young Harris and McCabe claimed all three assists.

The next two goals for the Mountain Lions came in the second half. In the 56^th minute, McCabe made a run up the right side with the ball and crossed it to the far post for Wyper to finish. In the last minute of the match, Young Harris made it 3-1 with a 3v1 counter attack up center field.

"We've scored 10 goals in the last two games," Moodie said. "We're excited to keep that going tomorrow and get back to conference play at home on Saturday against Lenoir Rhyne."

Live stats for the match can be found at www.yhcathletics.com/livestats/landing.