VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – When Carson-Newman (4-3-2, 2-2-1) battles Lenoir-Rhyne (2-4-3, 2-2-2) on Saturday night, it will hope to impress members of the 2013 Men's Soccer National Runner-Up team that will return to Mossy Creek for their ten-year reunion.
"It's been great messaging them over the past few days," Carson-Newman head coach Stephen Lyons said. "Again, what they achieved is part of the legacy of this program. TO be able to interact with them, hopefully they can tell a few stories to our guys and maybe to motivate them a little bit. Quality group, with all the interaction that I've had and a lot of that credit goes to Coach Moodie in what they achieved."
This season is the 10-year anniversary of the magical run that Carson-Newman men's soccer went on that season. After getting bounced in the opening round of the SAC Championship Quarterfinals, the Eagles still made the NCAA DII Southeast Regional, where the "lads" began their impressive run all the way to the national championship game. The Eagles opened up the NCAA regional tournament with a pair of three goals efforts to defeat Anderson and then the host Limestone.
C-N advanced to the Elite Eight by surviving penalty kicks against Lander and in a game that was scoreless throughout. Two days later, C-N defeated Rollins 2-1 to secure a spot in the Final Four. A 3-2 comeback victory over Simon Fraser gave the Eagles a spot in the national championship. The Eagles fell in the national title game 2-1 to Southern New Hampshire.
This year's squad is coming off its second SAC win of the season, a 1-0 road win over Newberry last Saturday. The victory increased C-N's SAC point total to seven, currently tied for seventh.
Hosting LR on Saturday is the start of a stretch where Carson-Newman will play six of its final seven games at McCown field. The Eagles are 2-0 in its only home matches so far this season.
C-N holds a slight edge in the all-time series with the Bears, 20-18-3. LR has an unbeaten streak of four games against C-N and has won five of the last seven meetings. The two clubs tied last season in Hickory 1-1. Harry Whitehead scored in the 52nd minute to give C-N the lead. Harri Rowe found the back of the net with less than five minutes remaining to help the Bears battle back to tie the match.
The Eagles have multiple standouts offensively in nine matches this year. Thomas De Graaw (Hoofddorp, Netherlands) is tied for third in the SAC with four assists, increasing his career total to 36. Ben Dukes (Southampton, England) and Harry Whitehead (Oxford, England) each have a team-high three goals this season. Dukes has scored in three of his last four games.
Playing 83 minutes against Newberry last Saturday, 5th year senior Nic Carsh moved into the top ten in minutes played, ranking 8th now with 4,340. He is the fourth different Eagle in the last three seasons to move into the top ten in minutes played on the pitch.
The Bears will be led by first year head coach Carlos Rubio, taking over for Jack Winter who resigned to become an assistant coach at Stanford. Rubio has been on staff since 2018 as a goalkeepers coach and served as the interim women's head coach a year ago.
"They are still a quality side," Lyons said. "A little tweak in the formation from what they had been playing. I know the results haven't been great but the opposition that they've been facing has been top. We can't look into the results they've had; they've played good teams. They have quality players, so we know its going to be a massive threat going into Saturday's game."
The Bears are coming off just their second win of the season but have played a challenging schedule in 2023. Both wins this year are in league play, a 1-0 win over Tusculum and a 4-1 win against Emory & Henry last time out. LR has losses to #11 Limestone, Wingate, Nova Southeastern and Francis Marion. They have three ties two of which have been in league play. A similar non-conference opponent with Carson-Newman is Young Harris. The Bears tied YH 2-2, while C-N won 4-1.
Adrian Martina leads the Bears with five goals, eleven points, 34 shots and 12 shots on goal. He has scored both game-winners this season. Four other LR attackers have at least one goal this year. Harri Rowe has a team-high four assists, tied for 3rd in the SAC. Goalkeeper Juan Basabe has started eight of the nine matches, recording 16 saves and allowing 11 goals. He ranks toward the bottom of the league with a .593 save percentage.
Tomorrow's match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. from McCown field. The game can be streamed on FloSports with a subscription. Fans can also follow along to @CN_Eagles on Twitter and Instagram for in-game updates.
