WINGATE, N.C. – In the South Atlantic Conference quarterfinals, top-seeded Wingate (11-3-2) scored a first half goal and pitched a shutout to take down Carson-Newman (5-7-5) on Saturday afternoon at the Wingate Soccer Complex.
"I thought we were very poor in the first half and played scared," Carson-Newman head coach Stephen Lyons said. "We spoke at half time and second half I thought we were the better team. To go toe to toe with #10 in the nation shows the potential this team has. I would like to thank all of our seniors for their influence on the group and I wish them all the best in the future."
The loss is Carson-Newman's third consecutive quarterfinal loss in the South Atlantic Conference tournament.
The first opportunity of the match came from a Carson-Newman corner kick in the 11th minute that did not result in a shot attempt. Two minutes later, Wingate also got its first close chance off a corner, but also failed to record a shot.
It took 25 minutes for either side to record a shot. Daniel Vennesland (Tanager, Norway) raced forward and missed wide right with his shot. Shortly after, Pedro Santos sent a shot that was blocked by Dan Coles. The blocked shot ricocheted out to Zach Panagiotou who blasted a ball into the bottom right corner to put WU up 1-0 in the 26th minute.
The Eagles took two more shots and had two more corner kicks in that first half and trailed 1-0 at intermission.
Carson-Newman began to pile up some chances as the second half started. Maxime Wester (Brussel, Belgium) and Harry Whitehead (Oxford, England) each had shots on goal that forced Marcus Munby saves in the 54th minute.
The next shot attempted by the Eagles was from Mitchell Honcoop who booted it toward the lower left corner of goal where Munby made a diving save to keep C-N off the board in the 70th minute.
Honcoop's shot turned out to be Carson-Newman's final shot of the match. Wingate took the final five shots of the match, three of which forced Federico Simonetti (Crema, Italy) make saves on.
Simonetti made a game-high four saves for C-N and kept the Eagles within striking distance. Honcoop and Whitehead each recorded a team-high two, with four others recording one for C-N.
Wingate outshot Carson-Newman 12-8 and 6-3 on goal. The Eagles mustered up five corner kicks to the Bulldogs four in the match.
