NEWBERRY, S.C – Two goals by Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland) helped ignite the Carson-Newman women's soccer team in the second half and the Eagles brushed off a first half challenge by the Newberry Wolves on their way to a 4-1 win on Saturday afternoon at Smith Road Complex in Newberry, S.C.
This game was the South Atlantic Conference opener for C-N and puts them at 1-0 in the SAC and 5-1 overall. They've now won three straight while Newberry has dropped four-in-a-row, are 0-2 in the SAC and 1-5 in 2016.
Averi Williams (Powell, Tenn.) started the scoring in the 13th minute, when a free kick was sent into the 18-yard box and goalkeeper Madison Putnam could only get a piece of it. That deflection put the ball right on the head of Williams, who tallied her first goal of the year for a 1-0 edge.
Newberry responded in the 38th minute, as Alyssa Ortega took the ball on the left side of the box off a misplay by C-N keeper Jacqueline Burns (Cookstown, Northern Ireland), and booted it in to even the score. Ortega's goal was her third of 2016. That 1-1 tie held into halftime.
The teams remained even for the first few minutes of the second half until C-N's offense took over the match. In the 54th minute, Williams sent a ball into the box that found Herrity, who deflected it over the line for the go-ahead score.
Two minutes later, it was Lauren Wade (Coleraine, Northern Ireland) who extended the lead. Wade and Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England) took off on a two-on-two break and Talbut-Smith fed Wade, whose shot from the top of the 18 beat Putnam, upping the Eagles advantage to 3-1. The goal was Wade's 11th of the year, putting her at the top of the Division II leaderboard, as do her 28 points.
Insurance for Carson-Newman came just one minute later, as Herrity and Williams teamed up again. This time, Williams hit a long ball across midfield that beat the Wolves defense and found Herrity, who put her name on the scoresheet for the second time and put her team ahead 4-1. She now has nine goals on the year, which places her fourth in Division II and one behind Lauren Wade for the team lead. Her 20 points also have her fourth in the nation.
Defensively, the Eagles shut out Newberry in the second half and limited them to just seven total shots and three shots on goal over 90 minutes. In net, Burns earned her fifth victory.
This match was the final in a string of four consecutive road games for C-N, as they return to McCown Field on Wednesday to play Mars Hill at 5pm. Live stats and HD video of the contest will be available on cneagles.com/live. Mark Inserra will have the call and there will be a full recap on cneagles.com postgame.
