JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Another non-conference road trip lies ahead of Carson-Newman on Friday as it heads to Limestone for a 3 p.m. kickoff in Gaffney, S.C.
Carson-Newman (1-0) heads into the contest eyeing a third consecutive 2-0 start to the season after taking down Belmont Abbey 4-1 on Saturday. Newly minted South Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Week Theo Hardenby Öhrwall (Stockholm, Sweden) led C-N in the victory with a pair of goals and an assist.
In that first win of the 2021 spring season, Bram Kaarsgaren (Den Bosch, The Netherlands) moved into sixth on the program's career wins list with 10. He needs seven more to reach his predecessor Twan Verweij who won 17 from 2017-18.
The Eagles are now 136-108-23 in road contests since 1990 with a 13-9-5 record in head coach Stephen Lyons' tenure. They have gone three road trips without a loss spanning this year and the 2019 season. The last road defeat came on Oct. 23, 2019 in a 1-0 decision against Lander.
When the 2021 spring schedule was originally released, Lyons' group was slated to take on Lee in the final non-conference match before SAC play began. After a shuffle in scheduling with the Flames came up, the door opened for this unique matchup. Limestone is the newest member of the SAC, joining the league prior to the 2020-21 season. Despite that, this game will go down as a non-conference contest. Since 2017, C-N has outscored non-conference opponents by a dominating 45-19 margin, nine of those being won by at least two goals.
This is just the fourth meeting between the two sides and the second to happen in the regular season. The last time they faced off in the regular season was back on Oct. 29, 1997. That day, C-N defended its home pitch with a 2-0 win on the banks of Mossy Creek. Both of the other two previous meetings came in the NCAA Tournament, the most recent coming on Nov. 13, 2015. Sixth-seeded Limestone ended third-seeded C-N's NCAA Tournament run on Nov. 13, 2015 with a 3-1 decision in the first round of the Southeast Regional in Young Harris, Ga. The Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the end of the first half, forcing C-N to make a comeback bid. Bruno Andrare scored in the 52nd minute to cut the Eagles' deficit to one, but a dagger from Jorge Salvat in the 89th minute closed the book on C-N's resurgence and season.
Friday's meeting will be the season-opener for the Saints after their previously scheduled Thursday tussle with Catawba was cancelled due to Catawba entering into COVID-19 protocols.
In their final season with Conference Carolinas, the Saints went 6-3-1 in league action with an 11-7-2 overall record. They left the league with three-straight CC Tournament titles, winning the 2019 title with a 2-1 win over Erskine. They started the season with a 1-4 record before closing the year on a 9-2-2 run, including a string of five consecutive wins. Limestone punched its seventh straight NCAA Tournament ticket in 2019 as the 10th seed in the Super Region 2 where it lost to seventh-seeded Francis Marion by a 3-2 decision on a golden foal in the 96th minute.
Head coach Eric Alsop's group was voted fifth in its first SAC Preseason Coaches' Poll appearance. Defender Sebastian Marx and midfielder Tristyn de Laaf garnered Preseason All-SAC nods, landing on the first and second teams, respectively, heading into their senior campaigns.
Marx is coming off of a debut season with the Saints that resulted in a pair of All-Region laurels from D2CCA and the United Soccer Coaches. He played a crucial part in a Saints' defense that was the best in the Conference Carolinas a season ago. Alone, he was 12th in the league with five goals scored. He also added on a pair of game-winners and an assist.
de Laaf returns as the unit's leading shot-taker from 2019, landing 34 of his 59 attempts on goal and accumulating 15 points.
Sophomore Josiah Ortiz comes back as the leading scored for Limestone in 2019. The midfielder netted seven goals with three game-winners.
Friday's match between the Eagles and Saints will start at 3 p.m. from Saints Field with live stats and a live stream provided by the staff and crew at Limestone.
