VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Preparing for his second year with the Carson-Newman men's soccer program, head coach Stephen Lyons has unveiled his team's 2018 schedule, which includes six road trips and nine home dates on McCown Field at Harvey Stadium.
C-N will face four teams from the 2017 NCAA Southeast Regional, three of those matches coming in road settings. The Eagles will also take part in a natural site meeting with a team from the South region.
"We want to be up there, we want to get the rankings to make it into the national tournament," Lyons said, "and measure ourselves against the top teams in the country and in the region."
The Eagles open the season with a trio of nonconference matchups, starting with a jaunt to Morrow, Georgia to take on Clayton State for just the third time, both teams holding one win against each other. C-N heads back home on Sept. 4 to host North Greenville before going to Chattanooga's Baylor High School for a neutral tussle with Barry. The Eagles are a perfect 5-0 against the Crusaders and 0-1-1 against the Buccaneers. This will be the first meeting with Barry since the Eagles fell to the Bucs 2-1 back in 2011.
South Atlantic Conference play opens with five-straight matches, four of those being consecutive away games. The road trips commence with a visit to Lenoir-Rhyne on Sept. 12 followed by journeys to Newberry and Lincoln Memorial.
"Early on, we get a test of going on the road a little bit which will be good," Lyons mentioned. "It's always nice to play those home games so hopefully we put together a good run then. It's like I say, a couple of the top teams that we play, they're going to be on the road so we have to be ready for it and just come to every game really ready to play."
Following the short slate of road competitions, the schedule keeps Lyons' bunch at home for two and a half weeks. The Coker Cobras will travel to Mossy Creek on Sept. 22 for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff before back-to-back nonconference matches with King and Alabama-Huntsville, another opponent from the South region. Oct. 10 will see the end of the nonconference slate as Lander closes the homestand.
The regular season winds down with a four-game schedule of SAC matches including a trip to face the reigning SAC Tournament champions in Wingate as the Bulldogs seek to notch their fifth-straight regular season championship. C-N ends the year hosting the Catawba College Catawba Indians on Oct. 27 for senior night.
Date |
Opponent |
Time |
Sept. 1, 2018 |
at Clayton State |
7:00 PM |
Sept. 4, 2018 |
North Greenville |
6:30 PM |
Sept. 8, 2018 |
Barry (at Baylor HS, Chattanooga) |
5:00 PM |
Sept. 12, 2018 |
at Lenoir-Rhyne* |
5:00 PM |
Sept. 15, 2018 |
at Newberry* |
3:30 PM |
Sept. 19, 2018 |
at Lincoln Memorial* |
3:30PM |
Sept. 22, 2018 |
Coker* |
3:30 PM |
Sept. 25, 2018 |
King |
5:00 PM |
Sept. 29, 2018 |
Alabama-Huntsville |
5:00 PM |
Oct. 03, 2018 |
Tusculum* |
5:00 PM |
Oct. 06, 2018 |
Anderson* |
7:30 PM |
Oct. 10, 2018 |
Lander |
7:00 PM |
Oct. 13, 2018 |
at Queens* |
7:30 PM |
Oct. 17, 2018 |
Mars Hill* |
7:30PM |
Oct. 20, 2018 |
at Wingate* |
7:30PM |
Oct. 27, 2018 |
Catawba* |
7:30PM |