JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men's soccer team (4-1-1, 2-1 SAC) will look to extend its current two-game win streak on Saturday night as the Queens (N.C.) Royals (2-4, 0-3 SAC) visit McCown Field at 7:30 p.m.
Carson-Newman scored two goals in the last five minutes on Wednesday night for a 4-3 comeback win over Mars Hill to pick up its first road conference win of the year, while the Royals dropped a 5-0 decision to Wingate.
"Reminiscent of younger Carson-Newman teams, that is the type of fixtures we've been involved in, similar to 2013. Just not giving up and a positive mentality throughout. Definitely a change in attitude from them this week and even from the coaching staff that led to that moment," coach Richard Moodie said.
Queens is tied for 11th after being held winless over the first three games. The Royals are led in scoring by Corey Brown who has two goals and an assist. Brown was the named the AstroTurf SAC Player of the Week on Sept. 8th. Edmundo Robinson has two goals for the Royals.
Sergio Lemus is the first-team keeper for Queens and he has conceded 16 goals and averages 2.61 goals allowed per game. Lemus has made 27 saves and possesses a .628 save percentage.
"They've had some unfortunate results and we are a third of the way through the season. Anything can go for any team in our conference and any team can beat any other team on any given day. For them, they haven't won in conference play, but they have played some of the top teams," Moodie said. "The system that they play, they have some boys up top that have been labeled as some of the most-dangerous players in the conference and that is a challenge for us."
Carson-Newman enters the contest in a three-way tie for third in the South Atlantic Conference; the Eagles were tied for fifth at this point last season.
Freshman Thibault Mathorez (Graces, France) has been the one of the top C-N players early into the season. The Frenchman has scored in the last three games and leads the team with nine points, which is also the third-most in the league.
Eric Cain and Will Meyer will have the call on the Eagle Sports Network as the Eagles look to extend their win streak to three with a full postgame wrap-up available on cneagles.com following the match.
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