VIDEO: Emilee Futrell Interview
Jefferson City Tenn. – On Sunday afternoon, you wouldn't have guessed that the Carson-Newman Eagles had just a single days' rest after running past the Georgia College Bobcats by a final of 5-1 at McCown Field.
The 2-0 start for C-N marks the third consecutive season for the program, who outshot the Bobcats 25-11.
"I'm glad it ended up like it did," said head coach Simon Duffy. "Especially with a Sunday game after you've play Friday, you just don't know what's left in the legs. Very happy with both of the performances this weekend, and we will push on and see where we can go from here."
Sophomore Jaidyn Zapf got the ball rolling in the 25th minute on a little tic-tac-toe play from Holly Talbut-Smith and Alex Brandan. The midfielder received the Talbut-Smith pass into the left side of the box and put it past a charging Ashlee Graham with the left foot for her first goal of the 2017 campaign.
The Eagles looked to create a two-goal lead before the half, but Graham would make two highlight reel saves to keep the lead at one.
"Sometimes the gaps weren't there, because they almost played five in the back," mentioned Duffy. "Fair play to the girls for keeping to it, but we had a bit of a chat at halftime about being a little more clinical around the goal."
Entering the 60th minute, a familiar face in Magda Mosengo drilled home a shot from 12 yards out finishing just inside the near post. Senior forward Lauren Wade recorded the first of two assists on the day after finding the junior out of London, England all alone to make it 2-0.
With C-N dominating the pace of play, it took one bad bounce allowing Georgia College to cut the deficit to one. Forward Amanda Bartholomew, who had two goals for the Bobcats on Friday, collected an Eagles turnover finding herself one-on-one with C-N's Jackie Barnes. Bartholomew's strike in the 77th minute seemed to have energized the Eagles, who came back and scored three goals over the next 10 minutes.
The first of three came on an unbelievable strike from transfer Catarina Realista, who unleashed on a loose ball from 30 yards out over the diving Graham for her first goal of 2017.
"Shocked. I was like nope, no way. That did not just happen," said freshman forward Emilee Futrell. "Great finish by her."
Futrell followed up the Realista strike with one of her own five minutes later, sliding to the grass on a feed from Wade to ultimately put the game out of reach.
"Getting the goal early in the season, it takes a lot of pressure off me I feel like," added Futrell. "It's a big thing to get your first goal and credit to Lauren on the pass."
Mosengo would make another appearance on the stat sheet with minutes left on the clock after Sydney Spadafora placed a cross right to the foot of the junior forward who needed just one touch before drilling her third goal of the year.
The Carson-Newman Eagles reach 16 straight regular season home wins, but will now hit the road this Wednesday, Sept. 6 to take on Lees-McRae. Game time is set for 5:00 p.m.
