JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – Having played their last four games on the road, including their conference opener on Saturday at Newberry, the Carson-Newman women's soccer team returns to McCown Field on Wednesday night, as they host Mars Hill at 5pm.
"It's a massive game for us," Soccer Coach Richard Moodie said. "Mars Hill is going to work hard. They haven't had a great start. It'd be the highlight of their season, I'm sure, to beat Carson-Newman. We approach every opponent with the same amount of respect. They'll be a tough test, they've got a new coach and I'm sure they are going to play hard."
The Eagles are riding a three-game winning streak during which time they've outscored their opponents 23-1. The most recent of those games was against Newberry, where the Eagles earned a 4-1 victory over their first conference opponent in 2016. The win included goals from Lauren Wade (Coleraine, Northern Ireland) and Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland), both of whom are in the top five in Division II in goals and points. Wade's 11 goals and 28 points put her in sole possession of the top spot in each category, while her six assists have her tied for first with Sarah Stram of Bemidji State for first place. She was also recently named SAC Player of the Week for a pair of games in which she totaled six goals and two assists. Herrity's put together a stat line of 9 goals and 20 assists, both of which are fourth in Division II. Both players have been selected as the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Player of the Week once this season.
Wade and Herrity aren't the only players who've been fueling the C-N offense, which has produced a Division II best 31 goals through six games. Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England) is tied for third in the country with four assists and is also tied for fifth in the conference with four goals. Her 13 points are the fourth most in the SAC. Between Wade's six assists, Talbut-Smith's five, Varin Ness's (Sogndal, Norway) four and Chelsea Jordan's (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Averi Williams' (Powell, Tenn.) three, the Eagles occupy five of the conference's top six spots on the assist leaderboard.
"The scary thing is our offense could be better," Moodie said. "People are seeing the goals, but with the amount that we're shooting and the amount of chances we create in games, if we converted a higher percentage of those chances, you think about what our goal total would be. The girls are working hard and so is the coaching staff and everyone is chipping in.
Defensively, Carson-Newman has allowed just seven shots on goal during their three-game win streak. Goalkeeper Jacqueline Burns (Cookstown, Northern Ireland) stopped all but one of those shots and currently has a save percentage of 0.83, tied for fifth best in the conference. Burns and the C-N defense have allowed more than one goal only once this year and have pitched three shutouts.
As for Mars Hill, their season has gotten off to rough start, as they are currently 0-4-1 and, in their last two matches, both against SAC opponents, they've been outscored 8-0. Their most recent game was on Saturday, when they hosted Catawba and were blown out, 5-0. The Indians scored all five of their goals in the first half and Mars Hill wasn't able to register a shot on frame all afternoon. The one game they did manage to keep out of the loss column was two weeks at home against Converse, a contest that ended in a 2-2 tie.
The only source of offense for the Lions so far this year has been junior Breona Tate, who's scored all five of her team's goals. Tate's year has included a hat trick against King (Tenn.) and a brace against Converse. Her five goals are the fourth most in the SAC.
In goal, two different players have started for Head Coach Tom Gott. Junior Kaitlyn Danglemaier started the first four games in net with a save percentage of .550. Maslyn Greene has played in two games this year, including a start against Catawba, and has .538 save percentage.
Wednesday's match will be the 27th meeting between these two teams and the Eagles have won 23 of the previous 26. Mars Hill has won just twice against C-N, with their last victory coming in 2007. The teams have also tied once. The teams met last year in Mars Hill, with the Eagles scoring four times in the first half on their way to 6-1 win. Ness led the way with a pair of goals.
You can find full coverage of the match on cneagles.com, including a live broadcast and live stats on cneagles.com/live. Mark Inserra will have the call and a complete recap of all the action will be posted after the final whistle.
