MOBILE, Ala. – After winning last year's first ever meeting and scoring five goals, Carson-Newman (1-1) was unable to sustain that offense success from 2022, falling to Spring Hill (1-1) 1-0 Saturday afternoon at Library field.
"Very disappointing result today," Carson-Newman head coach Stephen Lyons said. "With the chances that we created, we need to be far more clinical to win the game. Then, to allow a soft goal late, probably summed up the afternoon. It is early in the season, but we have to be much better at both ends of the pitch to get where we want to be. That will be the focus as we prepare for the next game aganist Young Harris."
C-N certaintly had plenty of chances to avoid getting shutout.
The first real opportunity of the match came in the 10th minute, SHC's Brennan LeBlanc sent a shot on frame that was saved by Federico Simonetti (Crema, Italy).
Less than one minute later, Maxime Wester (Brussel, Belgium) fired C-N's first shot on target but it was saved by Martin Gomez.
In the 18th minute, C-N was fouled in the penalty box, setting the stage for a penalty kick. Senior Harry Whitehead (Oxford, England) stepped up, but missed the PK chance.
Carson-Newman recorded the final four shots of the first half but the match was still scoreless at intermission.
Spring Hill took the first two shots of the half, one of which required a Simonetti save. The Eagles recorded the next six shots. The fifth shot was sent on target by Ben Dukes (Southhampton, England) but Gomez again made a save in the 68th minute. Three minutes later, the sixth consecutive C-N shot came from Dukes again that was saved once again by Gomez.
On just the second shot of the second half, LeBlanc found Spring Hill's Thomas Wynn-Davis scored on a shot in the lower right corner to put the Badgers ahead in the 76th minute. The goal was SHC's fourth shot of the match.
Carson-Newman had plenty of opportunities after the Badgers goal. Three minutes later, Dukes fired another shot just wide right. Thomas De Graauw (Hoofddorp, Netherlands) also missed right on his shot attempt in the 80th minute.
Whitehead tried his hand at goal but missed a shot right of goal as well in the 82nd minute. The senior's shot was C-N's final shot at finding an equalizer on the road.
C-N outshot Spring Hill 14-4, but both teams recorded three shots on frame. The Badgers managed eight corner kicks and limited C-N to five corners.
Carson-Newman had five different players receive a yellow card in the match.
The Eagles host Young Harris on Wednesday evening for its home opener at McCown field. Kick off is set for 6:00 p.m.
