BANNER ELK, N.C. – A goal in the 77th minute by Tom Deeley broke a snake-eye tie and pushed the Lees-McRae Bobcats to a 2-1 decision victory over the Eagles on Wednesday evening at Tate Field.
Carson-Newman moves to 1-1 after its first two road matches of 2017. Lees-McRae breaks a four-game losing streak to the Eagles with the win.
"In the first half, we didn't really play as well as we know we can but still created the better opportunities," head coach Stephen Lyons said of the loss.
Lees-McRae (2-0-1) got on the board first with a goal from Johannes Oeksnevad in the 33rd minute of play, with the assist awarded to Tom Deeley. C-N led the shooting tally in the first half 9-7 with four shots on goal compared to two from the Bobcats.
The ninth shot from the Eagles found the back of the net on a penalty kick from Joe Taylor to tie things up at 1-1 with nearly three minutes left in the half. Carson-Newman was 1-2 on penalty kicks in the first half.
"Second half we played much better, out possessed Lees-McRae and again created the better chances," Lyons said.
Both teams had chances to take the lead after halftime but failed to capitalize on the combined 10 shots made. Late in the second half, Deeley netted a goal of his own to break the scoring drought and put the Bobcats up 2-1.
It was a busy evening in front of the net for both goalkeepers. C-N's Twan Verweij faced seven shots on goal with five saves. On the other end of the field, Tyler Pavlet faced five shots with four saves.
"(Pavlet) made a couple of good saves and we just didn't find that end product," Lyons said. "Lees-McRae capitalized on a mistake late on and we were unable to pull it back."
C-N now falls to 5-7 overall in the series with the Bobcats.
The Eagles head back to Mossy Creek for their home opener on Saturday as they host Clayton State. Kick-off is slated for 5:30 p.m. Full coverage of the match will be available on cneagles.com/live with live stats and updates from @CNathletics.