HARROGATE, Tenn. – For just the third time in the last nine meetings, Lincoln Memorial (8-2-2, 4-2-1) defeats Carson-Newman (4-4-3, 2-3-2) on Wednesday afternoon at the LMU Soccer Complex by a final score of 1-0.
"I didn't think the overall performance was too bad, but good teams punish you when you switch off," Carson-Newman head coach Stephen Lyons said. "We know collectively we have to improve and hopefully we can do that on Saturday."
Carson-Newman had chances in the opening period. Maxime Wester (Brussel, Belgium) took the game's first shot in the 6th minute, firing wide left. In the 31st minute, Issac Pascal (Southend-on-Sea, England) sent a shot at goal that forced a diving save from SAC Defensive Player of the Week Daniel Benedek Miklosi. Six minutes later, Harry Baggaley shot a ball on frame that was also saved.
The Railsplitters won a C-N goal kick and immediately when on the attack. Ronan O'Mahony flicked a ball behind the defense, allowing Daniel Burko to run on and deliver a shot in the bottom left corner to give the home team a 1-0 lead in the 41st minute. LMU outshot C-N 8-5 in the first 45 minutes, but each team had two shots on goal and three corners.
Burko nearly struck to begin the second half, but Federico Simonetti (Crema, Italy) made an excellent stop to keep the deficit at one.
Carson-Newman's first shot of the second half came in the 64th minute from Daniel Vennesland (Tananger, Norway) who missed high. Two minutes later, Ben Dukes (Southampton, England) created space in the box but had his shot blocked by a LMU defender.
Simonetti kept the match within a goal making multiple saves in the 75th and 78th minutes.
C-N's best chance to find an equalizer came late in the contest. Fouled just outside the box in the 82nd minute, Mitchell Honcoop fired a free kick that deflected off the LMU wall and just barely went over top of goal. On the ensuing corner kick, a Harry Whitehead (Oxford, England) header nicked the left post, just barely missing goal. That would go down as C-N's final chance to tie.
C-N has failed to score a goal in back-to-back matches for the first time this season and for the first time since 2020.
Dukes had a team-high three shots. Simonetti finished the day with a game-high four saves. Carson-Newman has now been kept off the scoreboard in five matches this season.
The shutout is Lincoln Memorial's third straight and sixth this season. Miklosi made three saves in the win.
The physical match saw the two teams combine for 25 fouls and four yellow cards.
Carson-Newman now begins a five-game home stand to end the regular season, starting with Catawba on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
