JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – Looking to continue the momentum of their current five-game win streak, the Carson-Newman women's soccer team travels to Hickory, North Carolina for their final match in September as they take on the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears at the Moretz Sports Athletic Complex at 7pm.
"Last year, Lenoir-Rhyne played us really tough," Soccer Coach Richard Moodie said. "They're a great team. They've had some interesting results in conference. Last year's game was really close and it took some special moments for us to get a win. We consider them one of the top teams in the conference and it should be a good game."
The team is fresh off a pair of shutout victories in the South Atlantic Conference, as they thumped Mars Hill 8-0 on Wednesday and followed that up with a 3-0 blanking of Queens (N.C.) on Saturday. Those two victories put the team at 7-1 on the season and 3-0 in the SAC. Currently, C-N's nine points tie them for third in the SAC with Anderson (S.C.). They trail first place Catawba by three points and second place Tusculum by one, but Catawba, Tusculum and Anderson have all played one more SAC contest than Carson-Newman.
The Eagles continue to dominate the SAC offensively, as they lead the league in goals, shot percentage, assists and several other categories. Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland), who earlier this week was named SAC Player of the Week, has jumped to the top of the conference leaderboard with 13 goals, a total that also has her second in the country. Herrity scored twice in both C-N wins during the past week. That four goal surge pushed her ahead of teammate Lauren Wade (Coleraine, Northern Ireland), whose 11 goals have her in second place in the SAC and tied for third in Division II. Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England) and Wade lead the conference with six assists and Varin Ness's (Sogndal, Norway) five place her third. Herrity and Wade have also totaled 28 points over eight games, tied for the second most in the country.
Defensively, their two recent shutouts give them five for the season and goalkeeper Jacqueline Burns' (Cookstown, Northern Ireland) five clean sheets are the most by any SAC goalie. The Eagles are currently tied with Anderson for the fewest goals allowed in the conference. They've only allowed their opponents to score multiple goals once. In their 8-0 win over Mars Hill, they didn't allow the Lions to get off a single shot.
Lenoir-Rhyne started strong in their non-conference schedule, going 3-1-1 in their first five games, but they are looking to get untracked in the SAC after starting 1-1-1. They tied Tusculum before losing a 3-2 decision to Catawba in which they tied the game after trailing 2-0, only to allow the winning score in the 86th minute. They looked strong in their last match, dominating Lincoln Memorial 4-0, with all four goals coming in the first half.
Two of the goals the Bears got against LMU came from senior Kendall Smith, who leads the team with four goals and also has two assists, to give her a team-high 10 points. Freshman Hannah Van Eerden has three goals to her credit and senior Jessica Feronti leads L-R with four assists. Scoring goals has not been a problem for Coach Gary Higgins' squad, as they are fourth in the SAC in goals and goals for average. Their win over LMU was the second time they've scored four goals this season, as they also reached that total in a win over USC-Aiken.
In goal, junior Alayna Morris is in her first season as L-R's starting keeper and she's played all but 12 minutes in net this year. She's made 25 saves this season and has a goals against average of 1.20. She also has a shutout to her credit and was her team's goalie for the first 78 minutes of their win over LMU before being removed.
The all-time series between these squads is led by Lenoir-Rhyne, 19 wins to 12 with two ties. The Bears had won seven straight in the series entering last season's match, but the Eagles broke the trend with a 3-2 overtime triumph at McCown Field in 2015. Ness tied the game at two in the 75th minute and Herrity's goal in the second overtime clinched the victory, C-N's first over the Bears since 2009.
A box score and a complete recap of Wednesday's contest will be available on cneagles.com postgame.
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