JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman used a 14-4 shooting advantage and a second half goal from Nic Carsh (Newberg, Ore.) in its second-straight clean sheet win to get revenge for a late-February loss to Lincoln Memorial with a 1-0 victory on Thursday night at Science Hill High School.
"Great result tonight in a difficult environment," Carson-Newman men's soccer coach Stephen Lyons said. "Took us a while to settle into the game, but I thought we dominated for long spells and deservedly got a goal from Nic late in the second half. Great confidence to keep a clean sheet and, overall, very pleased with the lads."
This is the fourth win for Carson-Newman (3-1-1, 1-1 South Atlantic Conference) in its past five meetings with Lincoln Memorial (1-2, 1-2 SAC). Each of the last four meetings between the two sides have been decided by a single goal, six of their last seven being won in similar fashion. C-N has now won three-straight matches when it is being hosted by LMU.
The first road league win of the year moves the Eagles' unbeaten streak in conference road games to 4-0-3 over the past 879 days.
This is the third shutout of the season for the Eagles but their second victory, the outlier being a 0-0 draw at Limestone. The last time they won back-to-back shutouts came in October 2019 with 1-0 and 3-0 wins over then-No. 15 Coker and Mars Hill, respectively.
C-N keeper Bram Kaarsgaren (Den Bosch, The Netherlands) moves to three shutouts this season, elevating his career total to 7.1. He is one shutout away from tying Rumwald Le Guevel who notched 8.1 from 2012-13. The junior holds a 3-1-1 record in net this season, 12-5-4 in his two-year career.
The match was deadlocked at zero until the 67th minute when Gabe Martin (Corryton, Tenn.) provided a dish to Carsh to put C-N ahead 1-0. The junior has now scored goals in back-to-back games for the first time since that October 2019 string of clean sheets, netting the golden goal in a double-overtime win at Coker and at Mars Hill. As for Martin, that was the first assist in his four seasons with the team.
Who loves goals?
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 19, 2021
Nic loves goals.@niccarsh77 gets the Eagles on the board with an assist from @gabe_martin1
�� @CNmenssoccer 1
�� LMU 0
67'
�� https://t.co/hXALrZiL4v pic.twitter.com/oU6pNB5whQ
Neither team landed a shot on frame until the 33rd minute when Thaylan Silva (São Paulo, Brazil) sent a look to the bottom right of the net but it was saved by LMU keeper Robin Herrmann. C-N was already leading the shot tally 4-1 by that point.
Lincoln Memorial threatened with a pair of shots in the final 40 seconds of the first half. One of those came off the foot of Shanden Vergara that sailed up but was caught by Kaarsgaren. It was the first save for the C-N netminder in 226:07 minutes of gameplay, spanning back to the 89th minute of the 0-0 draw at Limestone on February 19.
For the third time this season, Carson-Newman faced a scoreless stalemate through the first 45 minutes of action, holding a 5-3 shot advantage.
Just over two minutes into the second half, Carsh fired a look to the bottom center of the goal that was gobbled up by Hermann. The Eagles added on four shots between Carsh's look and eventual goal, three of the attempts coming from Theo Hardenby Öhrwall (Stockholm, Sweden). He, Carsh and Harry Whitehead (Oxford, England) all led C-N with three shot attempts.
LMU's Joao Santos attempted a shot in the 81st minute that was caught by Kaarsgaren, marking the last save made in the contest.
Santos was the leading shot-taker for LMU, sending off two attempts with one on frame.
Carsh led all players on the pitch with two shots on goal. Silva and Matheus Maia (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) added on attempts that landed on frame.
Eight of Carson-Newman's 10 corners came in the second half alone. Those 10 corners match the team's highest total on the season that it set in the February 25 meeting with LMU.
The Eagles forced Herrman to make three saves on the night, his second-lowest amount for a single game this year.
Carson-Newman is back on the home pitch next week for a senior day showdown with Tusculum. Kickoff from McCown Field is set for 5 p.m. with a live video broadcasting hitting the airwaves at cneagles.com/live.
