AIKEN, S.C. – Samuel Amure (London, England) scored his first career goal and it was all the Carson-Newman men's soccer team needed as they slipped past the USC-Aiken Pacers 1-0 on Monday evening at the Pacer Pit in Aiken, S.C.
The victory is the second for the Eagles in three days and puts them at 3-1 in 2016, while the Pacers loss drops them to 1-2.
"There was no way we were leaving without a win tonight," Head Coach Richard Moodie said. "We were down to 10 men for much of the match and still found a way to come out on top. There wasn't one individual who stood out tonight, all the guys had a hand in it and that includes the players on the bench."
The game was a defensive stalemate for much of the first half until a C-N corner in the 34th minute set the stage for the night's only goal. Tom Read (London, England) delivered the ball into the box and Amure was in perfect position to head it home and the Eagles moved in front.
Ten minutes after taking the lead, Carson-Newman was dealt a severe setback as defenseman Samuel Jenkins (Bicester, England) received a red card and the team was forced to finish the match a man down.
Even shorthanded, Moodie's squad persevered and maintained the shutout in the second half despite multiple attempts to tie the score by USC-Aiken. The Pacers were awarded nine corners over the final 45 minutes, but strong defense by the Eagles made sure none of those opportunities came to anything on the scoreboard. Goalkeeper Joe Boyd (Nottingham, England) finished with four saves.
"[Assistant coach] Kavi [Luchowa] deserves a lot of credit for the work he's done with Joe," Moodie said. "The other goaltenders have helped a lot as well and the defenseman have been unreal, particularly Thibault Mathorez (Graces, France) and Steven Parry (Boulogne-Billancourt, France)."
Saturday is the next time Carson-Newman will be on the pitch again, as they face Newberry on the road in their first SAC game of 2016 at 1pm.
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