VIDEO: Stephen Lyons interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The 15-month offseason caused by the global pandemic comes to an end on Saturday for Carson-Newman as it heads to Belmont Abbey for a 3 p.m. contest in Belmont, N.C.
This matchup marks the first fall sport to be held in the spring for the C-N Athletic Department after the shuffling seen over the past 10 months. It also serves as the first of a two-game road stint that takes the Eagles to non-conference competition.
"We'd like to get some positive results going into conference play, but I think it's important that the guys start to really implement the style we've been working on and that it all kind of starts to come together. We've only got two games before we start tough conference play and we've got to hit the ground running."
The ever-unusual spring campaign starts the same way that the past three seasons have – on the road. In those games, C-N left with victories, shutting out opponents by a staunch 13-0 margin. The 2019 opener alone gave C-N seven of those goals against North Greeneville. In season-opening matches, the Eagles have won five-straight with a 15-15-1 record since 1989. That five-match winning streak is the longest string of opening wins in program history, a sequence that was also seen from 2004-08.
Of the 35 goals scored by the Eagles last season, 11 return to the Orange and Blue this year, scored by four different players. Lyons' also returns 132 of its 326 shots attempted from last season with 52 of the ones that landed on goal coming from players who are suiting up this season.
The reigning South Atlantic Conference regular season co-champions are coming off of a season that saw it land mostly in the upper echelon of statistical categories in the league. Offensively, C-N sat in the top three for a majority of statistical categories, including third for scoring offense (2.06) and goals (35) and first in shots per game (19.2), a clip that also garnered it the third-best in all of Division II. On the defensive side, C-N allowed the second-fewest goals in the league (20) while notching the third-best goals against average (1.11)
Saturday reignites a series between C-N and Belmont Abbey (0-1, 0-0 Conference Carolinas) that dates back to 2008. Since then, the Eagles have garnered a 4-1-1 record against the Crusaders, currently holding a three game winning streak. When playing at Belmont Abbey, Carson-Newman leads with a 3-1-0 record, including a current two-match winning streak in those fixtures.
This is the first time the two sides have gone to battle since 2015 when the Eagles left Belmont with a 5-0 victory. That day, Nick Skoda powered the Eagles offensively with the first hat trick of his career. C-N has outscored the Crusaders 14-7 in their meetings.
"We played Belmont in the preseason last year and had really good competition," Lyons said. "They're coming out of a very good conference, so we expect it to be a very tough game."
Belmont Abbey opened its season on February 6 with a 4-0 loss to Liberty. It was outshot 13-6, only getting three shots on goal.
Heading into this season, the Crusaders landed at third in the Conference Carolinas preseason poll back in December. This came after they earned a second-seed spot in the CC tournament a year ago. Statistically, they were third in the league in 2019 for save percentage at 0.753, shutout percentage of 0.313 and team goals against average at 1.233.
Ninth-year head coach John Keating welcomes back United Soccer Coaches All-Region and All-CC first team selections from a year ago, goalkeeper Ben Knust and defender Kevin Daly. In the net, Knust started 13 matches with 50 saves. He had a save clip of .769 that was good enough for second in the CC and a goals against average of 1.21, fourth in the league. Daly ended his debut season as the Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year, starting in all 14 matches he played in.
Joining Daly and Knust as returning postseason award-winners from last season is junior Adam Lindskog, who landed on the All-CC second team. The defender started in 14 of his 15 appearances last year, netting a goal and an assist.
This meeting marks the first match the Crusaders have hosted since the Conference Carolinas tournament last year, losing to seventh-seeded Mount Olive. In 2019, they were 3-4-1 in matches played at Alumni Field.
Saturday's match is set to kick off at 3 p.m. at Alumni Field. The staff at Belmont Abbey will provide live stats and a live stream of the proceedings.
