VIDEO: Richard Moodie Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – After picking up their second SAC win of 2016 in dramatic fashion, the Carson-Newman men's soccer team has a non-conference clash on tap on Wednesday, as they welcome the King (Tenn.) Tornado to McCown Field for a 7:30pm match.
"King's a team that's going to come here excited to play against us," Soccer Coach Richard Moodie said. "I expect them to be hard-working an disciplined. They'll be a tough opponent, but for us, it doesn't matter who we play the rest of the season. The focus is on us and trying to get the most out of our players. We've got a great squad and even though we've had a lot of injures, they team we're fielding is strong. We've just got to get the most out of them."
Saturday marked the end of the team's first three-game losing streak since 2014, as an overtime goal from Ashley Kelynack (High Wycombe, England) beat Anderson (S.C.) in double overtime and pushed C-N's record to 2-3 in the SAC and 5-4 overall. The Eagles are now tied for sixth in the SAC, nine points off the pace set by Tusculum and Wingate, who are both undefeated this season. Wednesday's meeting with the Tornado is the second in a string of four straight home game for the Eagles as they look to get some momentum going for their stretch run.
Kelynack is the 12th different goal scorer for the Eagles this season, which is already one more than they had all of last year. Kelynack is also the seventh player to score his first C-N goal this year. The team is led by senior Marius Staalby (Trondheim, Norway) and junior Tom Read (London, England), who are even at the top of the club leaderboard with four goals. Read also has a SAC-best eight assists, a total that ties him for second in Division II. Read and his teammates have put up 21 goals this season, the third most in the SAC and they continue to create opportunities, as their 156 shots and 76 corner kicks are the most in the SAC.
Defensively, Coach Moodie has used a number of different players, but captain Thibault Mathorez (Graces, France) and fellow Frenchman Steven Parry (Boulogne- Billancourt, France) have been the mainstays, starting all nine and they also have a pair of goals to their credit. A number of other players have seen time on the back line. Sam Jenkins (Bicester, England), who scored C-N's first goal of the year, has played in eight games with seven starts and Leon Mattig (Wettenberg, Germany) has started the last three contests. Jalen Goddard (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Tobias Solem Karlsen (Kongsvinger, Norway), Samuel Amure (London, England) and James Coady (Franklin, Tenn.) have also seen time this season. Joe Boyd (Nottingham, England) has continued a solid first season in goal, making 28 saves and earning a pair of shutouts. His goals against average currently stands at 1.42 to go with a save percentage of .683.
Since an 0-2 start that included losses to Brevard and Tusculum, the King (Tenn.) Tornado has found its stride, winning five of seven, including victories in their last two games. Their most recent contest was also their most decisive win, as they thumped North Greenville 8-1 on Saturday. Freek Schoones netted a hat trick and the Tornado also got a brace from Faber Bickerstaffe in the victory. Saturday also marked the first time this season the Tornado has won a game by more than one goal, as they're previous four triumphs were all squeakers. They've won all three of their matches in Conference Carolinas after a 2015 season in which they went just 4-4-2 in conference.
Eli Carrasco is currently the team's leading scorer with six goals and 13 points. He started the year with two scores against Brevard, also tallied a brace against Alabama-Huntsville and has added goals in King's last two matches. Bickerstaff and Luis Calderon are tops on the squad with four assists each and Bickerstaffe's 10 points are the Tornado's second most. King ranks 5th in the conference in goals, but they are third with 13 assists.
In goal, Kari Sveinsson has started for the majority of the season, but Cameron Sauro has also seen action, including getting the call against North Greenville. Sveinsson is just 2-4 with a 2.30 goals against average and a .625 save percentage, though he does have a shutout to his credit. Sauro has won all three of his starts and has a 1.18 GAA to go with an .813 save percentage. Sauro has allowed one goal in all three of his starts.
The Eagles have dominated King in the all-time series, winning 18 of 24 matches with three ties. The last two meetings have been split, as C-N won last year, 3-1, getting goals from Bruno Andrade (Sao Paulo, Brazil) along with Read and Staalby, but the Tornado came away victorious in 2014 at McCown Field 3-2, with Bickerstaffe providing one of the tallies. That defeat broke what had been six game win streak for Carson-Newman against their rivals from Bristol.
This match-up will be the second part of a doubleheader, as each school's women's team will play first at 5pm before this game kicks-off at 7:30pm. A live video broadcast and live stats can be found at cneagles.com/live. Mark Inserra will call all the action and a recap of the game will be up on cneagles.com later that night.
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