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Carson-Newman v USC Aiken Game Video
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men's soccer team (2-0) is set to play the South Carolina Aiken for the first time since 2009 as the Pacers venture to McCown Field for a 7 p.m. kickoff Saturday night in the 500th-game of the program's history.
The Eagles are riding high after a 5-0 beat down of the Belmont Abbey Crusaders on Wednesday in the Tar Heel where senior Nick Skoda (Knoxville, Tenn.) tallied the program's first hat trick since 2013. C-N started the season 2-0 for the first time since 2007 and it is only the seventh-time that the Orange and Blue has won its first two games of the year.
The Pacers come into the contest with a 1-1-1 record and played 110 minutes on Wednesday night against the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears in a game that ended with a 1-1 tie. Aiken opened the year with a 2-0 win over South Atlantic Conference rival Anderson (S.C.).
"They will be a good team. Every team that we play against on the schedule will be a good team and they were in the national tournament last year," coach Richard Moodie said of his team's next opponent. "We finished second in the national tournament and the next year we had an awful season. The history doesn't matter; we just have to deal with what we know about them. Obviously, they've got the experience and history of being a great program."
In its first two games of the season, Carson-Newman has scored three or more goals for the first time since 2006. The only other time such a feat occurred was in 1991. If the Eagles can score at least three goals against Aiken, they will tie the school record for goals to start a season that was set by the '09 club.
USC Aiken was a NCAA Tournament team in 2014 but fell in the first round of the tournament to Pfeiffer by way of a 3-1 score. The Pacers also advanced to the Peach Belt Conference championship game but lost to Young Harris 1-0 in extra time; they ended the year with a 14-6-1 record.
Aiken returned their third-leading scorer from last season as sophomore Jordan Misiri is back after scoring six goals as a freshman. Misiri was joined by defender Sandre Duncan and midfielder Andre Simmond as returning players from All-PBC a year ago.
Thus far into 2015, the leading scorer for the Pacers is senior forward Jarrel Smalls who has two goals. Getting the first three starts in net for Aiken is freshman Andre Bernardini. The Brazilian has allowed four goals and stopped 11 shots early into the season.
"For us, we've got to do our homework, make sure we get it right in the scouting report and hopefully Mother Nature will be kind to us and actually get this game in. We're looking forward to having them here. We've not had them on the schedule in a while. It's a good team. It's a good opponent to play against and obviously, we respect them a lot with the results they've had," Moodie said.
Carson-Newman kicks off for the 500th time at 7 p.m. on Saturday night against Aiken. Matthew Osborne and Eric Cain will have the call on the Eagle Sports Network. A full recap of the contest will be available post-match on cneagles.com.
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