JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men's soccer team (3-1, 1-1 SAC) snapped a two-game winless-streak and extended its unbeaten streak to 22 games over Newberry (1-4, 0-2 SAC) as the Eagles knocked off the Wolves 3-1 Saturday night at McCown Field.
Junior forward Marius Staalby (Trondheim, Norway) recorded his first two goals of 2015 and freshman Thibault Mathorez (Graces, France) tallied his third goal of the year in the win; freshman Bruno Andrade (Sao Paulo, Brazil) contributed two assists in the winning effort.
"For us, it's a confidence builder for us. With teams like this, it is always interesting; we were off to a flying start in preseason and now we are off to a slow start in the regular season. The players are there. The pieces to the puzzle are there for us to start clicking and it is just a matter of time of when does it happen," coach Richard Modie said. "I thought Bruno Andrade was the best player on the park tonight. I thought every time he got the ball tonight he was dangerous."
Staalby opened the scoring in the sixth-minute. Andrade sent a ball through the 18-yard box that landed at Staalby's feet; the Norwegian's first attempt was saved by Newberry goalkeeper Brad Dixon, but Staalby cleaned up his attempt and found the back of the net to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Newberry answered 21 minutes later with a goal from Ky Tyler. Lucas Ferreira sent a cross into the box off a free kick that Davis Bryan headed across the box and landed at the feet of Tyler, who beat senior goalkeeper Kavi Luchowa (London, England) in a one-on-one situation to tie the contest at 1-1.
Mathorez's third tally of the year also was assisted by the freshman Andrade. The Brazilian sent a free kick into the box and Mathorez headed the ball to the far left post to beat Dixon and give the Eagles' a 2-1 lead at the halftime break.
Staalby's second score of the evening came from the penalty spot after the junior earned that foul that led to the spot kick. Staalby stepped up to the line and Dixon chose the wrong way, which allowed Staalby to go to his right and score Carson-Newman's first penalty kick of the season.
"It's always about going in with confidence. Knowing that it is a set piece allows you to practice in and allows you to go in with confidence. I saw the goalie go early and I decided to put it in the other side," Staalby said.
The Eagles outshot the Wolves 18 to nine, which included a 10 to one tally in the first 45 minutes of play. Andrade led Carson-Newman with five shots, while Staalby tallied four attempts on goal. Davis Bryan was the lone Wolf with multiple shot attempts as the sophomore forward had five.
Staalby's sixth-minute goal was the earliest goal in his career; the junior's previous earliest goal was came against Tusculum in the 2014 regular season when he scored off a header in the 12th-minute. Staalby has now scored against Newberry in consecutive seasons.
Carson-Newman has now scored goals in the first 10 minutes of play in back-to-back games following James Ward's (Trine Cornwell, England) goal in the second-minute against Lenoir-Rhyne.
The Eagles will now travel to Mars Hill for a 7:30 p.m. matchup on Wednesday night in the Tar Heel State as C-N looks to avenge a 4-1 loss to the Lions at McCown Field in 2014.
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