JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the fourth consecutive meeting it was the Carson-Newman Eagles coming out on top over their rivals from Greeneville, the Tusculum Pioneers (2-6, 2-2 SAC) Wednesday evening from McCown Field. The Eagles have seen previous success over the Pioneers the last two seasons after sweeping them last spring and now taking Wednesday's match with a thrilling 2-1 win, leading the Eagles back to winning ways and to claim their third SAC win of the 2021 season.
Wednesday was all about response for Carson-Newman after suffering their first SAC loss last Saturday to the Catawba College Catawba Indians at McCown Field. Head coach Simon Duffy talked about his team having "short-term memory" in a season like this one where matches happen almost every Wednesday and Saturday for the Eagles.
The Eagles (4-2-2, 3-1 SAC) were up for the challenge once Wednesday kicked off as they came out firing on all cylinders and got back to their normal selves of firing as many shot attempts as possible against the stout Pioneers defense. Eagles were able to see goals by a pair of first-timer net rippers in 2021 as sophomore Savannah Fields (Johnson City, Tenn.) and senior Jente Kuper (Ottersberg, Germany) proved to be the difference duo as they netted goals to help the Eagles get back on track.
"First half was a little bit of hangover from Saturday. We weren't really playing our best and being as brave as we should have been," head coach Simon Duffy said. "That second half was much more as we like to play as Savannah and Jente netted the goals and helped us come out of the match with a win. Told the girls to go out there and have fun and be brave."
Wednesday saw the first career start as an Eagle goalkeeper for junior Hope Doyle (Harrison, Ohio) as she was named the Eagle starter after completing the second 45 minutes of action Saturday against Catawba. The match was another grueling contest for Duffy's squad as they fought for every opportunity to pull away as they finished the first 45 minutes of action with seven shot attempts to Tusculum's five attempts.
Most notably, it was Doyle who sprung into action on the first true Tusculum attempt in the 15th minute by Julianne Fox. Fox broke through the Eagle defensive back line, forcing Doyle to step up and slide into a massive save and keeping Tusculum off the board. Tusculum kept the early pressure on C-N as they fired off three more shot attempts before Brianna Garcia broke through and gave the Pioneers an early 1-0 lead in the 30th minute. This was the second straight match where C-N would face a halftime deficit after being down 4-0 against the Indians last Saturday.
"We went out in the second half and played with more fearlessness," Duffy said. "We just need to continue playing with confidence and believe in ourselves."
The second half forced the Eagles to ramp up the offensive intensity in order to get an equalizer and keep themselves in the match overall. Early on, it was sophomore Abbie Zander (Baneberry, Tenn.) and junior Addie Henry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) who had the best chances for the Eagles to find an equalizer but both attempts ended up going high of the goal. Soon after, in the 53rd minute, Tusculum saw both Garcia and Fox attempt to make it 2-0 but the Eagles stepped up and blocked both attempts to keep it a one-goal match and keep themselves within striking distance.
However, in the 56th minute, Fields found herself the reciepent of a beautiful assist by the freshman duo of Nellie Bryneus (Halmstad, Sweden) and Alisha Heiniger (Duerrenroth, Switzerland) who fed Fields the ball inside the box before she found the back of the net and made it 1-1 as action continued for both sides. Almost seven minutes later in game action, freshman Sydnee Duncan (Athens, Tenn.) received a chance in the 63rd minute off an Eagle corner to make it 2-1 but the Pioneers stepped up and made a team save to keep it level at one apiece.
The momentum continued rocking back-and-forth between the two sides for the next twenty minutes of gameplay as neither side was able to break apart and score the go-ahead goal. That was until the 85th minute when C-N finally had a breakthrough off a timely corner awarded to the Eagles.
It was the sophomore Zander who set up the ball and sent it into the box in an attempt to use the present height difference for C-N as the ball found the head of Heiniger before dropping right in front of the Tusculum defense. From there, it was Kuper who took the chance and poked the ball into the back of the net, giving C-N the 2-1 advantage and almost certainly making sure the Eagles would leave their home turf with the three points.
"It was really nice to be able to score the game-winner after we had fought so hard all match," Jente Kuper said. "I know if we continue fighting for each other and competing as a team, we can win as many matches as possible. I was just glad to see the ball at my feet and to put the ball into the net for us to win."
From there, C-N continued playing solid defense as they held Tusculum to no shot attempts in the last five minutes of action to close out the match and gain another three points in the SAC standings.
After the 90 minutes were up, Carson-Newman found 20 shot attempts under their belt, with six of those attempts falling on frame for C-N. Meanwhile, Tusculum finished the night with eight total attempts as three of their attempts were shots on goal. This continues the trend of C-N opponents not getting a lot of opportunities, but when they do, they often find most of them to be on goal. Through the eight matches this season, C-N opponents have had 42 of the 84 total attempts be shots on goal, a percentage of .500 compared to a ..403 mark for the Eagles (62-154).
Offensively, it was a quartet of Eagles who led the way with three shot attempts individually. Of the quartet, Sydnee Duncan saw two out of her three attempts be on goal which led the team in that category. The other three Eagles of Addie Henry, Savannah Fields, and Nellie Bryneus each had three shot attempts but only one fell on goal for each Eagle.
As mentioned before, Hope Doyle got the call in net for head coach Simon Duffy's squad. The Harrison, Ohio native made a pair of saves on the eight Pioneers attempts as she collected her first win of the season and moved to 1-0 for C-N.
Meanwhile, the Pioneers were led by Kenzie Ellenburg who finished her night with four shot attempts as only one was a shot on goal. The goal-scorer for the Pioneers, Brianna Garcia, finished with only a pair of attempts as her goal was the lone shot on goal attempt of her night.
Tusculum goalie was Emma Harriman for the third straight SAC match as the Pioneers had seen Harriman be apart of the last two SAC wins for Tusculum. Harriman made three saves against the six shots on goal for Carson-Newman.
"We truly missed Emilee these last few matches, no doubt. It is what it is and she knows how to be back out there and help us win games," Duffy said. "We know that Queens is a good team and will be ready for a highly contested match on Saturday but we know that we have the talent and depth to win games in this conference and tonight shows it."
Duffy and the Eagles will now go back on the road for a trip to the Tar Heel State once more for a Saturday matchup against a red-hot Queens (N.C.) Royals squad. The Eagles will look to take home a win from Queens for the first time since 2018 when the two programs kick off at 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
Fans can watch the action via the live coverage presented by Queens Athletics at this link and follow live in-game updates via Twitter from @CN_Eagles.
-CN-
