JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - No. 19 Carson-Newman will hit the road on Saturday, Oct. 13 when the team will clashes with South Atlantic Conference foe Queens. Kickoff from the Queens Sports Complex is set for 5:00 p.m.
The Eagles (7-3, 5-1) have won four-straight matches the Royals (6-4, 2-3) outscoring them 11-3 over the period. C-N leads the overall series is 9-3 but two of those losses have come on the road. The last loss in Charlotte, N.C. came during the 2012 season.
Simon Duffy's group continues to dominate teams in the shot chart this season following its 2-0 win over Anderson on Oct. 6 in which the Eagles outshot the Trojans 34-2. It was the highest margin in Duffy's tenure at the helm. Earlier this season, C-N also outshot Lees-McRae 35-6 and Coker 33-1. The overall shot difference through 10 games stands in their favor 230-80.
On the flip side, C-N has allowed 12 goals through its first 10 games in 2018. The team had allowed just 12 in all of 2017 through 23 games. There's little credence in the stat as the Eagles were without starting goalkeeper Jackie Burns (Cookstown, Northern Ireland) and starting midfielder Catarina Realista (Lisbon, Portugal) for the first three games of the season.
"It's just a different season in comparison to last year," Duffy said. "I've had to mention it to the returning players at times we are comparing ourselves to last season and we need to stop doing that and focus on what we have been doing lately. It's exciting to have everyone together as we get raring to go on Saturday."
With its fifth league win last Saturday, C-N sits atop the conference standings tied with Anderson and Lenoir-Rhyne with 15 points. The Eagles and Trojans remain as the only teams in the SAC with one conference loss as Duffy's squad is in search for its fourth-consecutive regular season title. Over the last three regular-season SAC matchups, C-N is 32-4-2 against its opponents outscoring them 120-28.
Queens comes off a 3-1 victory over the second-ranked team in the league and 10th-regionally ranked Lenoir-Rhyne on Oct. 6 for their second SAC win of the season. The Royals also topped conference foe Coker (7-0) but have fallen to Tusculum, Anderson, and Catawba in the three losses.
Adding to the list of its wins in 2018, Queens defeated then-ranked No. 24 Tampa 2-1 on Sept. 7 in Florida as Denise Brolly's team is just a year removed from its best season in program history.
"Regardless of where they are in the conference they are a very good team," Duffy said. "Denise I'm sure will have them firing on all cylinders knowing we are coming into town."
The Royals went 12-3-3 in 2017 and snuck into the NCAA Tournament after being defeated in the first round of the SAC tournament to Anderson. The Royals defeated UNC Pembroke in OT 1-0, before falling to C-N in the Southeast Region Semifinal match 2-0. Brolly joined the Royals in the summer of 2016 after serving as the head women's soccer coach at Barry University for three seasons. Queens made its second-ever appearance in the NCAA Championships last season reaching the Southeast Regionals for the first time in 10 years.
Queens was selected to finish second in the league in the preseason polls receiving 98 points, ahead of Wingate with 89, and behind C-N with 110.
Charlotte Ring and Emma Rose Stockton each earned a spot on preseason All-SAC first team, with Lulu Phan appearing on the league's second team honors.
Ring finished third on the team with 12 total points on four goals and four assists. Stockton and Phan tied for fourth on the team with 10 total points each. Stockton scored four goals to go with two assists, while Phan scored five goals on the season.
Phan leads the team with seven goals in 2018 followed by Dani Diaz with six of her own and Charlotte Ring with five. The three have combined for 18 of the team's 23 goals. Queens is second in the league with a shot on goal percentage of .533.
"We need to show up and play and I think we are very capable of shutting very good teams down like we did against Anderson," Duffy said. "I say it every week we need to be the best form of ourselves. I think the focus for us is really there over the past couple weeks. The focus, the drive, the intensity, we need to continue that starting with tomorrow."
The live stream and live stats are available through Queens here. Keep up to date with all news and updates throughout the evening at cneagles.com and @CNAthletics on Twitter.
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