JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The fifth-oldest rivalry for the Carson-Newman men's soccer team (6-2-1, 3-2 SAC) commences as the Eagles take the 56-mile trek to Harrogate, Tenn. to face the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters (6-1-1, 3-1-1) in a critical South Atlantic Conference contest on Wednesday afternoon at the LMU Soccer Complex.
The Eagles and Railsplitters are meeting for the 28th-time and this year's edition of the series features a LMU squad that is tied for second in the SAC and the fourth-place Eagles.
Lincoln Memorial is entering the contest after its first loss of the year against Wingate on Sunday afternoon. The Railsplitters scored in the third-minute thanks to Nick Spielman, but two second half goals from Shaun Gadsby gave the Bulldogs the win. LMU has conference wins over Brevard, Queens and Lenoir-Rhyne and tied Tusculum.
In conference play, the Railsplitters have scored the sixth-least goals with eight, but have held opponents to the fourth-lowest total of scores by conceding just six goals. Carson-Newman has scored the most goals in SAC matches with 13, but have allowed the second-most goals to conference foes with 11.
Preseason first-team All-SAC forward Leonardo de Silva leads the 'Splitters with four goals and an assist for nine points. de Silva has the doubled the person with the second-most shots as the senior has 33 shots in 2015. Pedro Villa has the second-most goals wiht three; Villa has also added an assist.
Pedro Ozi is the first-team goalkeeper for LMU and has played every second of the Railsplitters' season in goal. Ozi is a six-foot, five-inch junior from Sao Paulo, Brazil and concedes just over one goal a game and has 28 saves. The junior has two shutouts on the year.
Senior Sindre Welo (Trondheim, Norway) has the most goals for a current Carson-Newman player with two goals against the 'Splitters. Welo has also moved into a tie for seventh all-time in the C-N record books with 22 career goals.
LMU owns the series record 14-11-3, but Carson-Newman is 5-2-2 all-time in Harrogate. Last season, the two teams fought to a 2-2 double-overtime draw with the Eagles' goals being tallied by Joao Pedro Dowsley and Welo. C-N's last win in the series came at McCown Field in 2012 with a score of 2-1.
The Eagles and Railsplitters kick off at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon from the LMU Soccer Complex in Harrogate.
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