Five goal first half propels Eagles to rout of Catawba

VIDEO: Richard Moodie Interview

VIDEO: Julianne Herrity Interview

VIDEO: Highlights

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman women's soccer team stormed to a 5-0 first half lead and never looked back, as they dominated the Catawba College Catabwa Indians, 6-0, at McCown Field on Saturday afternoon.

"I think we've always had the belief that our team is good," Soccer Coach Richard Moodie said. "We were ready for this game. I thought we came out and pressed hard the first five minutes and were a dominant force. I don't think anyone can disagree that the better team won. I think we deserved it."

The Eagles have now won three-in-a-row to earn record of 9-2 and with a mark of 5-1 in the South Atlantic Conference. Catawba's second straight loss puts them at 6-3-1 and 5-2 in the SAC.

The Eagles came out of the gate ready to go and didn't waste any time getting on the board. In the third minute Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland) sent a perfect through ball into the box for Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England) and the sophomore turned it into her second goal in as many games. Six minutes later, Herrity found Lauren Wade on the left side of the 18-yard box and Wade hit a cracker that beat goalkeeper Liz Nail for a 2-0 lead. Wade's goal was her 12^th of the year and she continued her streak of scoring in every game she's played this year.

In the 20^th minute, Helen Seed added to the C-N total with her first goal of the season. A Varin Ness (Sogndal, Norway) corner into the box came to feet of Seed, who knocked it over the line to make the score 3-0. Seed's score was the first for the junior since her freshman year.

Even with a sizable lead, the Eagles kept pouring it on in the first half. In the 31^st minute, a cross by Talbut-Smith from the left side found the head of Hannah Henry and her fifth goal of the year made the score 4-0. Herrity closed out the first half scoring by flicking in a cross from Wade in the 35^th minute and C-N headed into the locker room with their biggest first half lead of the year.

Catawba was unable to close the gap in the second half, as Carson-Newman's defense continued its strong play. The visitors only got off nine shots on the day, with three of them on goal. All three of those shots were saved by Jacqueline Burns (Cookstown, Northern Ireland), who earned her eighth clean sheet of the year.

The Eagles will look to extend their win streak to four when they travel to Wingate next Saturday for a 5pm match. You can visit cneagles.com for a recap of the game. 

-CN-