HICKORY, N.C. - Ismael Noumansana collected a pair of first half goals to help the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears upend the Carson-Newman men's soccer team, 4-2, on Wednesday evening at the Moretz Sports-Athletic Complex in Hickory, N.C.
This is the third straight defeat suffered by the Eagles, who fall to 1-3 in the South Atlantic Conference and 4-4 overall. L-R improves its record to 5-3 with a 2-2 mark in the SAC.
"I was disappointed with the way we started," Soccer Coach Richard Moodie said. "We finished strong, but we were chasing the game from the first 20 minutes. We had some chances that could've gotten us back in the game, but we didn't have the right people in the right place."
It didn't take long for the Bears to build a large lead. In the 10th minute, Carson-Newman was called for a foul in the 18-yard box, giving Lenoir-Rhyne a penalty kick that Noumansana took advantage of for his first goal of the day. In the 15th minute, Romain Lopez got ahold of a loose ball near the C-N net and beat goalkeeper Joe Boyd (Nottingham, England) with a shot into the top left corner of the frame for his third goal of the year and a 2-0 lead. Just over a minute later, Noumansana received a pass from Sercan Cihan on the left side of the box and found twine again for his eighth goal in 2016 and with less than 20 minutes gone, the Bears were ahead 3-0.
Carson-Newman quickly cut into their opponent's advantage as Tom Read (London, England) knocked a corner into the six-yard box, where Marius Staalby (Trondheim, Norway) was waiting. The finish by the senior made the score 3-1 in the 22nd minute, but unfortunately for C-N, they could get no closer.
In the 71st minute, Jens Roessler made a run down the left side and lofted a shot that was just out of Boyd's reach to give L-R their three goal lead back. Staalby struck again in the 77th minute on a penalty kick, his team-high fourth goal this year, but it would be the last score yielded by either team. Coach Richard Moodie's squad did outshoot their hosts 22-14, but goalkeeper Zach King made five saves and the Bears defense refused to let the visitors climb to within one.
On Saturday, Carson-Newman begins a string of four straight home games when they welcome Anderson (S.C.) to Jefferson City for a 7:30pm contest. Live video and stats will be available on cneagles.com/live. Mark Inserra will be on the call and a comprehensive summary of the match will be available after the final whistle.
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