JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – After upping their conference record to 2-0 with an 8-0 hammering of Mars Hill on Wednesday at home, the Carson-Newman women's soccer team takes its show on the road on Saturday, as they visit Queens (N.C.) for a 1pm match.
"It's a big opportunity," assistant coach Kavi Luchowa said. "Queens will be a good side. They're probably one of the better teams that we've seen. It also leads into some bigger games for the girls. They look confident going in, but they never take anything for granted."
Their victory over Mars Hill gives the Eagles a 6-1 overall mark as well as a four-game winning streak that has included their first two South Atlantic Conference contests of the season. They downed Newberry in their conference opener last Saturday. In the process of winning four straight, C-N has outscored its opponents 31-1, the most goals they've scored in a four game span since 1997. More than half of those goals have come from Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland) and Lauren Wade (Coleraine, Northern Ireland), both of whom have scored eight times. As of Thursday morning, Wade and Herrity are tied for second in Division II with 11 goals on the season and are also in the top five in points. Wade's 28 points have her in second, while Herrity's 25 points place her fourth. Wade's six assists also tie her for the most in the country, while Holly Talbut-Smith's (Crawley, England) five place her even with a number of players for third.
Currently, the Eagles lead the South Atlantic Conference in every major offensive category. The 39 goals they've amassed are 20 more than second place Anderson's (S.C.) 19. They also have 22 more assists than the next closest team and five of the top seven players on the SAC assist leaderboard. Nationally, the Eagles reclaimed the Division II lead in goals on Wednesday night, as their 39 put them five ahead of Southwestern Oklahoma. Carson-Newman also holds a large lead in assists, having collected 32 while Delta State has the second most in the country with 23.
"This all comes down to the hard work the players and coaches put in," Luchowa said. "Even after an 8-0 win, they wanted to come back and practice the next day and continue trying to get better. The players have a great mentality and work ethic. As a coaching staff we're always looking at things to see what we can improve and the girls have the right mindset, as well."
Defensively, the Eagles and freshman goalkeeper Jacqueline Burns (Cookstown, Northern Ireland) have four shutouts to their credit and Burns holds the third-lowest goals against average in the SAC at 0.71. In their win over Mars Hill, they didn't permit the Lions to get off a single shot and during their current four-game win streak, they've averaged allowing less than four shots per game.
Queens will be looking to continue a recent trend of solid play on Saturday, as they've won four-out-of-five. This match will be the third in a string of four straight home games for the Royals and they won the first two, dispatching Lincoln Memorial 3-1 before slipping past Wingate 2-1. Those two victories gave Queens a 2-1 SAC record, tying them with C-N for fourth in the league with six points.
The Royals offensive attack has been led by Thea Mallet and her six goals, which are the fourth most in the SAC. Her 13 points also place her fifth in the conference. Mallet is the only Queens player who's scored more than two goals this season and no player on the roster has more than one assist.
Sophomore Rachel Quest has started all seven games in goal for head coach Denise Brolly. She's tied for the SAC lead with 35 saves and has the conference's fifth-best save percentage. Quest also earned consecutive clean sheets earlier in the year, as she shutout Limestone and Lees-McRae just five days apart.
Saturday will mark the 10th time these teams have met and Carson-Newman's six wins give them the edge compared to Queens' three. The home team has won the last four matches in the series, with C-N taking last year's contest by a score of 2-1, getting two goals from Nikki McWilliams in the victory.
A detailed recap of the contest will be posted on cneagles.com at the conclusion of the match.
-CN-
