ANDERSON, S.C. – The Carson-Newman Eagles scored a trio of goals in the first 24 minutes en route to a 4-0 road victory over Anderson on Saturday night.
The win extends the Eagles unbeaten streak to seven games, including six consecutive clean sheets with five straight being shutout victories. C-N has yet to allow an opposition goal in 565 minutes of play. The team's six successive games without allowing a goal is now the longest scoreless streak against opponents in program history, surpassing the previous streak of five games which the team achieved most recently in 2006.
The win over Anderson marked the team's 142nd shutout victory.
"Another great team performance where we created opportunities through working very hard to win the ball back early," head coach Stephen Lyons said of his squad. "When we were in possession, our movement was very good, at times going forward like we had been working on."
Thibault Mathorez got Carson-Newman (7-1-1, 5-0-1) on the board first just four minutes in with his first goal of the season. A corner kick sent in by Tom Read was bobbled in the air above play before Ashley Kelynack knocked the ball in possession of Marthorez, who set up a shot amidst Anderson defenders that sailed into the right back corner of the net.
Minutes later, the Eagles broke up a pushing drive by the Trojans to send the ball the other way. Driving down the field, Ashley Kelynack raced behind the ball, dribbling around AU defenders before taking a shot from 18 yards out to put the Eagles up 2-0.
Shortly after, Tobias Solem Karlsen dropped off a pass to Tom Read that he powerfully sent into the net to give C-N a 3-0 lead. He had two shots on goal in the match, putting him at 15 this season. He now stands at fourth-place on the career shots on goal list with 80 overall.
15 minutes into the second half, Read forced a breakaway off the Trojans to make a pass for Karlsen, making his way toward the top of the 18-yard box to score the lone second half goal. He now co-leads the team in goals with six alongside Read. Karlsen's six goals coming in four games including a hat trick against Clayton State on Sept. 9 that started his scoring run for the season.
Anderson goalkeeper Aden Ardoin saved just six of the 10 shots that headed his way. He is now 0-3 in the 2017 campaign.
The Trojans (4-5-0, 1-3-0) were held to five shots in the game compared to 21 from Carson-Newman. Myles Duncan had the only shot on goal for AU at the 42:45 mark, forcing Twan Verweij to make just one save on the evening.
The last time the Eagles allowed five shots with one on goal from an opponent this season was in a 5-0 victory over Newberry on Sept. 16.
Verweij notched his sixth shutout of the season, putting him at fifth on the individual season records list for shutouts with 6.1, sixth place for the career records list. He is 6-1-1 in front of the net this season.
The Eagles lead the series 11-4-0 overall, moving to 4-1-0 in games played in Anderson.
"This was another solid defensive effort to be able to keep a clean sheet," Lyons mentioned. "Big game to prepare for on Wednesday now."
Carson-Newman heads back to home territory in a midweek meeting with Lincoln Memorial. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. The Eagle Sports Network will bring you a live broadcast of the game along with live stats. Follow @CNathletics for updates throughout the match.
