JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Two first half goals from seniors Lucas Siqueira (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Jules Gabbiadini (York, England) powered the Carson-Newman men's soccer team (5-1-1, 3-1 SAC) past the Queens (N.C.) Royals (2-5, 0-4 SAC) 2-1 Sunday afternoon at McCown Field.
Gabbiadini recorded his second game-winning goal of the week and added an assist in the win.
Carson-Newman is now third in the South Atlantic Conference with nine points and just three points back of leading Wingate.
"It's hard when you go into these type of games. We knew their style of play; we knew they were going to sit deep and wait for us to attack. There were moments there when we were 1-0 up and they sat deep and didn't even look like they wanted to come out," coach Richard Moodie said. "I thought the second goal changed them. They were more forward thinking in the second half."
Siqueira opened the scoring in the 12nd-minute. Gabbiadini sent a cross into the box that found Siqueria at the top of the six-yard box and the Brazilian found the back of the net for his second goal of the year and Carson-Newman led 1-0.
Gabbiadini capped the first half scoring in the 45th-minute. Junior Tom Read (London, England) sent a cross in from the left side of the field that was headed back into the six-yard box by junior Marius Staalby (Trondheim, Norway) and Gabbiadini tapped home to the goal for a 2-0 Eagle advantage at the break.
"Well, it was just a great bit of work by my roommate down the left-hand side; Tom skinned a couple of defenders and just squared it across the box and I just had a feeling that if I made the run, there is always a chance that a defender is going to miss it and I was there luckily for the tap-in. It was a nice feeling," Gaddiadini said.
Queens scored first in the second half. A foul was called inside the box against Carson-Newman to set up a penalty kick for the Royals. Marc-Kev Schhwenk stepped to the penalty spot and went to his left to score and cut the Eagles' lead to 2-1, which was the final score line. The penalty kick was Queens's first-attempt of the season.
Carson-Newman outshot the Royals 13 to 10 on the day, but Queens outshot C-N eight to two in the final period. Siqueira led the team with three shots and Gabbiadini tied with Read and Staalby with two attempts each. Schwenk led the Royals with five shots and Edmund Robinson recorded two strikes on frame.
C-N has scored first in every contest this season. The Eagles have now won three straight against Queens to even the series record at 3-3.
"For us, I thought we did well. We broke them down two times in a very congested half of the field. We did well. We moved the ball well. We looked good; we looked comfortable," Moodie said. "It's good to see us hold on for every minute of 20-minutes plus to the win and make sure we get out of here with the three points. I think that's important when you play in our conference at home. You have to make sure you win at home."
Carson-Newman takes to the road for the next four contests beginning with a 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday night against the Lees-McRae Bobcats in Banner Elk, N.C.
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