HICKORY, N.C. – Kendall Smith broke a scoreless tie in the 74th minute to supply the only goal of the night as the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears edged the Carson-Newman women's soccer team, 1-0, on Wednesday night at the Moretz Sports-Athletic Complex in Hickory, N.C.
This defeat is the first one the Eagles have suffered in the South Atlantic Conference this season and puts their record at 3-1. It also snaps their five-game win streak and overall they are now 7-2. L-R moves to 2-1-1 in the SAC and 5-2-2 overall.
"The girls can hold their heads high," Soccer Coach Richard Moodie said. "I thought they put forth a great effort. They fought. We didn't create as many chances as we'd like. We had some opportunities to get on the scoresheet. They just had one chance on a breakaway and they capitalized."
Through one half of play, neither team was able to find the right opportunity, with the defenses refusing to yield to the opposing offense. Both goalkeepers made a pair of saves to keep the match scoreless, though L-R held a slight lead in shots, five to four.
The second half started out very similar to the first, as both teams pushed for the initial goal. It took until the 74th minute for someone to break the ice. Smith took a pass from Jessica Feronti, made a run down the right side and put a shot on target for her fifth goal. This marked the first time C-N trailed in more than three weeks, as they did not face a deficit at any point in their five-game win streak.
The Eagles spent the last 16 minutes of the game desperately trying to tie the score, but they were unable to draw level. Goalkeeper Andrea Leano picked up her second clean sheet of the year, stopping all six shots that came her way. C-N did finish the game ahead in shots, 13-11, with Holly Talbut-Smith's (Crawley, England) three leading the group, but Leano and her back line kept the shutout intact to earn three points. Jacqueline Burns (Cookstown, Northern Ireland) did tie a career high in net for Carson-Newman with five saves.
After spending much of September on the road, the Eagles are back at McCown Field on Saturday for the first of four straight home matches as they host Anderson (S.C.) at 5pm. Mark Inserra will call the match as cneagles.com/live will have live video and stats for all 90 minutes. At the conclusion of the game, cneagles.com is where you can go for a full recap of the action.
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