JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – This weekend, the Carson-Newman men's soccer team plays a stretch of two road games in 72 hours, as they take on Flagler College on Saturday in Florence, S.C. at 1:30pm and then head to USC Aiken for a 3:30pm match on Monday.
The Eagles are hoping to use this two-game stretch to bounce back from their 2-1 loss on Monday to Tennessee-Wesleyan. They played the Bulldogs to a scoreless tie through one half of soccer, but allowed two quick goals in the second half. Marius Staalby (Trondheim, Norway) got C-N on the board with a penalty kick, but the Eagles were unable to draw level and were dealt their first loss.
Staalby's goal puts him with Samuel Jenkins (Bicester, England) and Bruno Andrade (Sao Paulo, Brazil) as the team's three goal scorers through two games. Staalby is also the only player with more than two points to his credit, as his assist on Andrade's goal against Lees-McRae in the opener gives him three on the season. In net, freshman Joe Boyd (Nottingham, England) has started and finished both games and has made four saves.
Flagler enters the game at 0-2-1, having lost to Erskine and Anderson (S.C.) and tied Emory-Riddle (Fla.) 2-2 in their most recent contest on Wednesday. The offense has been active in all three games, as they've outshot their opponents in five of six halves this season, but that has not led to enough goals to pick up a victory. They do have a talented goalkeeper in Lex Craggs, who put together four clean sheets last year to go with a goals against average of 1.60. Sustaining solid defense in the second half has been a problem for the Saints, as four of the five goals they've given up have been scored after halftime.
Flagler entered 2016 off a season in which they went 9-6-1 and posted a 7-2 record in the Peach Belt Conference, but lost in the PBC tournament semifinals. They did bring back three of their four top goal scorers from last year in Pedro Silva, Oscar Davidsson and Jackie Kay, but through three games, only Davidsson has found the net this season.
This will be C-N's first matchup against Flagler in program history.
Two days after their match with Flagler, the Eagles will be in Aiken, South Carolina to play the USC-Aiken Pacers for the second straight year. In 2015, the Pacers visited McCown Field and played Carson-Newman to a 1-1 draw.
This season, the Pacers have only taken the field once, as they visited Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday, but suffered a 4-0 defeat. USC-Aiken allowed three goals in the second half and were shutout despite putting six shots on goal. Their starting goalkeeper against L-R was senior Chase Boulton, who allowed four goals on six shots. This is Boulton's first year as a starter after playing in five games last season, making 13 saves and finishing with a 1.89 GAA.
Last year's team was also shutout in their first game but went on to post an 8-5-3 record with a 5-3-1 conference mark, but lost in the first round of the Peach Belt tournament.
Aiken's two top scorers from last year are back for 2016 in Andre Simmond and Nathan Shanko. Both players combined to produce Aiken's goal against C-N last year, as Shanko assisted on Simmond's score.
The Eagles will have a chance to even the all-time series with the Pacers, who are 3-2-1 against C-N.
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