VIDEO: Highlights
VIDEO: Samuel Jenkins Interview
HARROGATE, Tenn. – A second half comeback from Lincoln Memorial provided a temporary threat as the Eagles prevailed to pick up their first South Atlantic Conference win of the season with a 3-2 victory at the LMU Soccer Complex on Wednesday afternoon.
Carson-Newman (4-1-0, 1-1-0 SAC) trailed in the shooting category 16-13 but made the most of the opportunities they held where it mattered the most. The Eagles saw eight of their attempts land on goal while Lincoln Memorial (2-2-1, 0-1-0 SAC) could only get four on frame.
The win puts C-N just behind the 'Splitters in the overall history, 14-15-3.
LMU played at least one-down for most of the game after Rodrigo Aguiar received a red card in the 15th minute. Both teams received five yellow cards in the affair, but C-N was without red cards. LMU totaled three red cards in the physical match, two of those causing Railsplitters to come off the field. It was the first time the Eagles held that edge in players on the pitch this season.
"I thought the guys did great. We know it's an emotional environment, especially after a red card, and it certainly ended up that way" head coach Stephen Lyons said. "There's things on both sides, but our guys just kept to their job, even in the second half when the tide swung a little bit and they pulled two back.
"We kept our composure, didn't get involved and pushed on to get the goal, which I thought we deservedly got."
VIDEO: Stephen Lyons interview
A yellow card on Andrea Cantoni set the Eagles up with a penalty kick at the 29:25 mark. Ashley Kelynack (High Wycombe, England) lined up and connected for his first penalty kick of the season. He still leads the team in goals scored, now sitting at four.
Tom Rankin (Birmingham, England) set up for a corner kick that made its way to Samuel Jenkins (Bicester, England) who headed in the ball to put the Eagles up 2-0.
The goal marked just the second in his career for the senior defender, his last goal coming back in the 2016 season.
"It was just a great ball by (Rankin), managed to lose one man," Jenkins said. "This is something we work on in training, it's just nice to see it come off."
BINGO. JENKO. Sam Jenkins heads in a goal of his own with an assist from @TomRankin2!@CNmenssoccer 2@LMURailsplitter 0
— C-N Athletics (@CNathletics) September 19, 2018
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The Railsplitters came out strong in the second half with Christoph Willemsen scoring off of a rebounded save to cut the Eagles lead to one. Still playing just one man down, Victor Peres received a pass from Matteo Bufalo that he sent into the back-left corner of the net past Twan Verweij (Utrecht, Netherlands) to equalize the game with over 30 minutes left to play.
The tied game scenario did not last long thanks to Tobias Solem Karlsen (Kongsvinger, Norway). The junior was sent a long pass off of the foot of Jonny Le Quesne (Jersey, Channel Islands) that he shot into the net for his third goal of the year.
The goal was the only one the Eagles could land in the second half but it was all they needed. In the final frame alone, they took nine attempts after being held to four in the first half.
"We had to kind of weather a little bit of pressure initially, made one or two adjustments to kind of figure it out, and I thought the boys did that well," Lyons mentioned. "When we had the opportunities, we just took them."
LMU's keeper Caleb Cothrin faced a busy second half with four of his five saves coming in the frame. As for Verweij, he needed just one save in each half while allowing those two goals early in the second.
His two saves on the night move him to 69 in his career and 12 wins. He now sits at fifth in program history for career wins as he moves to 12-8-1 overall.
The Eagles head back to the friendly confines of McCown Field for the next five matches, starting off with a Saturday showdown with the Cobras of Coker. That game is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. Fans who are unable to attend can find a live broadcast of the game at cneagles.com/live.
