BRISTOL, Tenn. – After a first half that saw both teams struggle to make breaks, King came up victorious as the Eagles suffered their second-straight loss, falling 1-0 to King on Wednesday afternoon at Parks Field.
The loss was the Eagles' first loss at King in series history and the first shutout loss to the Tornado since a 5-0 loss in 1989. It also marks the team's first shutout loss in 2017.
Carson-Newman extends its winless streak to five, dropping back-to-back one goal games while the victory gives the Tornado its second consecutive win.
"Simply not good enough at all today," head coach Stephen Lyons said. "We didn't have the intensity and drive to do the little things we had talked about all week."
Both teams struggled to get momentum going in the first half as both teams stayed scoreless through the first 45 minutes. Carson-Newman (9-5-2, 6-1-2 South Atlantic Conference) made nine shots compared to two from the Tornado in the opening half.
Carson-Newman had two opportunities in the first half to score with shots from Will Sainsbury-Logan and Collin Hensel. Both shots were saved by Dalton Gammon. Those shots on goal were the only ones C-N had in the game.
The second half was a mirror image in terms of shooting with King (4-9-2, 0-8-1 Conference Carolinas) taking the advantage.
In the 57th minute, a corner kick from Lucas Lavender set Faber Bickerstaffe up to make a pass into the 18-yard box to Luis Calderon, getting a look past a diving Twan Verweij as the ball sailed into the back-left corner of the net to end the scoreless tie, putting the Tornado ahead 1-0. The goal gave Calderon his fourth of the season.
Calderon led the way for the Tornado in the shooting department, sending out three shots with two on goal, the only ones that would fall there for King.
"We conceded a soft goal and were unable to react," Lyons said.
The Tornado made nine shots in the second half to just two from the Eagles, both teams finishing the game with 11 shots.
Hensel and Read both attempted four shots on the afternoon. Read now has 66 shots on the season with 214 in his career.
Verweij moved to 8-5-1 on the season in the loss. He faced three shots on goal with two saves.
Gammon is now 2-2-1 after making just his fifth start of the season. He saved both shots on goal that came his way in the match.
The road loss gives the Eagles a 4-4-2 record in games away from McCown Field in 2017.
C-N is now 18-4-3 against the Tornado in the all-time series.
"The players have to understand that performances like this are not acceptable within this program," Lyons mentioned. "We need to turn things around quickly going into Saturday's game."
The Eagles close out the regular season with a road trip to Hartsville, S.C. on Saturday evening to take on the Coker College Cobras. Live video and stats will be provided by Coker. Follow @CNathletics for updates throughout the match.
