Eagles spread goal-scoring wealth, blank Tigers

 

VIDEO: Highlights

VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview

VIDEO: Bill Hadam Interview

Box Score (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – A second-straight substantial offensive outburst, this time with four different goal scorers, powered Carson-Newman to a win in its home-opener with a 4-0 victory against Salem on Tuesday afternoon at McCown Field.

This is the fifth-straight home-opening win for Carson-Newman (2-0), moving its overall record to 18-9-2 in such matchups. It also remains perfect against Salem (0-2), extending its series record to 5-0.

"Overall, it was solid, especially given the temperature today. It was definitely pretty hot," Carson-Newman coach Stephen Lyons. "The guys took in well, and I think the thing that pleased me most was when we did make rotations and changes, the players that came in were able to impact the game."

Carson-Newman used a 9-2 shot differential to keep the Tigers at bay through the first 45 minutes before adding on 10 more in the second half. C-N kept Salem to just one shot in the final frame.

Through the first two games of the 2019 campaign, Carson-Newman's offense has recorded 55 shots to just seven from its opponents.

Greg Evans (Wrexham, Wales) had the lone goal the Eagles saw in the first half. In the 39th minute, he picked up a redirect near the six-yard box that he sent into the back right of the net, giving C-N a 1-0 lead. It was the redshirt-junior's first goal of the season, second in his career.

Just under two minutes into the second half, Thaylan Silva (São Paulo, Brazil) stole the ball from a Tiger before sending a through-pass to two defenders that landed at the feet of an open Bill Hadam (Knoxville, Tenn.). The sophomore broke away into a one-on-one face-off with Luis Felipe Ramirez that ended with Salem's netminder landing on the ground as Hadam sent the ball into the middle of the net to put the Eagles up 2-0.

 

This marked the first time Hadam has scored a goal since his first career goal in the win over Queens on Oct. 13, 2018.

"It felt great, you know, it's good to start out a home game scoring a goal," Hadam said. "I felt good; just want to credit [Thaylan Silva] with the good pass on my goal there.

 

"Going into the second half, we just wanted to keep the tempo high and, you know, attack and the first start of the half, try to get a goal and that's what we did. We were successful at that."

Nearly 20 minutes later, it was Silva's turn to score his own goal. Tobias Solem Karlsen (Kongsvinger, Norway) sent a cross into the box that Silva directed into the net off of the foot of a Tiger, extending C-N's lead to 3-0.

Silva now holds three career goals and moves his point total for the season to five.

The final goal of the afternoon belonged to Nic Carsh (Newberg, Ore.), the first of his career and in his first appearance for the Eagles. In the 82nd minute, Solem Karlsen had a quick steal that Ben King (Hertfordshire, England) quickly recovered and crossed inside to Carsh. The wide-open sophomore was able to finagle his way past the goalkeeper and an oncoming defender to put on the final touch in the Eagles' win.

Silva was the leader in the group for shooting with three. He was one of three Eagles to send two shots on goal.

Andrew Tarus led the Tigers with one shot that also landed on goal.

Ramirez was called upon five times for saves throughout the game compared to just one save needed for Bram Kaarsgaren (Den Bosch, The Netherlands). Through two games, he has needed to make just four saves with 1.1 shutouts.

"Any time you can start to put some clean sheets together, it always kind of builds confidence through the group," Lyons said. "We know the games going forward are going to just get harder and harder, and it's important that we kind of keep that mentality to keep maintaining clean sheets and putting in the good performances."

Carson-Newman heads back on the road Saturday for a trip to Lee. The match against the Flames is slated to begin at 7 p.m. with a live broadcast and live stats being provided by their staff.