JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Senior Jules Gabbiadini (York, England) tallied two goals and junior Tom Read (London, England) tied the Carson-Newman season with his 13th-assist as the 14th-ranked and top-seed Carson-Newman men's soccer team (15-2-1) rolled past the visiting Brevard Tornados (5-10-2) 4-0 Tuesday night at McCown Field in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
Gabbiadini snapped a 10-match scoreless streak with his two tallies, while Read added a goal and two assists as the Eagles won their first SAC Tournament match since a 4-0 win over Lenoir-Rhyne in the 2012 quarterfinals. C-N's four-goal advantage was the third-largest SAC Tournament win in the program's history.
"The execution of the game plan, the boys came to and did what we asked them to do. We got into the wide areas; it's hard to breakdown a team that parks the bus. This team, we played them two weeks ago and beat them 1-0, they came here with the same game plan and we changed and we executed getting into the wide areas and managed to find their weaknesses in there," coach Richard Moodie said.
Carson-Newman registered seven shots and held the Tornados shotless before the Eagles found the back of the net. Gabbiadini took a through ball from Read and made a run down the end-line; Gabbiadini's right-footed shot beat Brevard goalkeeper Heath Turner at an awkward angle and found the back of the net at the far post to put the Eagles ahead 1-0 in the 37th-minute.
"Coach told me when I came on to make sure I got the ball in wide areas and we knew we could cause trouble in the wide areas; I made sure I was hugging the line and I sorted of drifted in when I saw Tom was turning to spread the ball out wide. I took a touch inside the fullback and saw the keeper stepped off his line a little bit and I was able to poke it in the back of the net behind him," Gabbiadini said.
Three minutes later, the Eagles struck for a second goal. After a foul set up a C-N free kick on the right side of the offensive-third, Read sent a cross that found the head of junior forward Marius Staalby (Trondheim, Norway) and the striker headed home his seventh-goal of the year for a 2-0 Carson-Newman lead at halftime.
In the 68th-minute, C-N had an opportunity to extend its lead to 3-0. Senior midfielder Lucas Siqueira (Sao Paulo, Brazil) made a run into the 18-yard box and was taken down by a Brevard defender to set up a penalty kick. Siqueira stepped to the spot to take the penalty, but was denied his fourth-career penalty kick after his attempt hit the crossbar.
Read struck for his goal in the 78th-minute. Senior defender Alexander White (Glasgow, Scotland) sent a cross from the left sideline into the box that Read latched onto and sent a shot into the left corner of the net to push the Eagles' advantage to 3-0. White's assist was his second of the season.
Gabbiadini finished his double with a goal off a corner in the 83rd-minute. Senior Poly Avgousti (Paphos, Cyprus) lined up a corner kick from the right flag stick and crossed the ball that landed at the Englishman's feet who snuck a shot past Turner for the 4-0 final score.
"We had worked on corner kicks in training, set pieces are really important in postseason play because they can make a difference in a game. I saw that Poly had done the signal that he was going to play a ball near-post and I made a run, held off my marker and was able to get a volley on it into the bottom corner. It was a good goal," Gabbiadini said.
Carson-Newman outshot Brevard 22-7; in the two meetings between the clubs this season, C-N registered 52 total shots. Read led the contest with four shots, while freshman Bruno Andrade (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Staalby registered three attempts. No Brevard player attempt more than one shot as seven Tornados had one attempt each.
Turner tallied eight saves on the 12 shots he faced, while C-N goalkeeper Kavi Luchowa notched two saves in his six clean sheet of the season; Luchowa now has 10 career shutouts, which is tied for third in the Carson-Newman record books.
Read tied Patrick Olarlere's 1991 season-long performance of 13 assists. Each player achieved the feat in 18 contests. Read was second in the SAC during the regular season with 25 points and the junior started the postseason with five points against Brevard. After his 78th-minute strike, the junior now has eight goals on the year.
Carson-Newman 15 wins is tied for the fourth-most in school history and its winning percentage of 83.3 percentage is the best in program history.
The Eagles next play on Friday morning at 11 a.m. against the Queens (N.C.) Royals in the SAC Tournament semifinals at Manchester Meadow in Rock Hill, S.C.
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