VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Despite a total of 38 shots being sent through the night and each side scoring a goal in the second period, Carson-Newman and Anderson reached a 1-1 draw after two overtime sessions in Saturday night's South Atlantic Conference battle under the lights of McCown Field.
The tie keeps Carson-Newman (6-2-1, 2-2-1 SAC) without a loss at home against the Trojans (2-4-2, 1-2-2 SAC), now sitting at 6-0-1 in games played at C-N. Overall, this was the first tie between the two sides in their 16 meetings.
For Carson-Newman, the draw is the first at home since a 1-1 finish with USC Aiken on Sept. 12, 2015.
"Overall, the response on the kind of effort and energy levels was good," coach Stephen Lyons said, "but I think our overall play still isn't where it needs to be. Over-complicating the attacks at times instead of playing quickly and then I thought we actually had the far better opportunities and we didn't convert them when we needed to."
The Eagles held the Trojans back from having any of their four shots land on goal in the first 45 minutes of play while Carson-Newman had just one make it on frame. Early in the second half, however, C-N was finally able to find the break it needed to get on the board.
A ball sent deep into Anderson third resulted in AU's goalkeeper Gal Elyashiv sliding and making contact with Tobias Solem Karlsen (Kongsvinger, Norway) in the 18-yard box. The foul called on the Trojan netminder set up Ashley Kelynack (High Wycombe England) for his second penalty kick attempt of the season. He connected with the back of the net, putting C-N up 1-0 in the 48th minute. He and Karlsen now lead the team for goals this season at six apiece.
Ashley Kelynack rips home @CNmenssoccer's lone goal on the night �� pic.twitter.com/0O1UgfXeU5
— C-N Athletics (@CNathletics) October 7, 2018
Kelynack is now tied for fifth alongside Ross Frame for the most penalty kicks made in a single season in C-N history with two. He is also tied with Karlsen for sixth on the career PKs made list with a pair.
The score marked the third successful penalty kick the Eagles have scored this season.
"A goal always gives you a little bit more energy," Lyons said. "I think it also fired Anderson up a little bit and they started taking the front foot on things, but, again, I thought we were weathering it pretty well. I thought we'd see the game out, to be fair, but they came back and got one."
About 20 minutes later, Kelynack had an opportunity to score again, sending a shot toward the goal that bounced off the crossbar.
Kelynack led C-N in shooting with five attempts on the night. His goal was his only shot to land on target.
Anderson answered on C-N's chances with a corner in the 78th minute. Jhon Vaca lined up with a corner kick that sailed into the 18-yard box where it met the head of Ryan Tyrer before skirting past C-N's Twan Verweij (Utrecht, Netherlands).
The goal marked the first time this season that the Carson-Newman opposition scored off of a corner kick.
Carson-Newman maintained possession for most of the period from that point on, but the game remained scoreless heading into the waning minutes of regulation, sending the meeting into overtime.
Through both overtime periods, the goalkeepers needed just one save in each frame to keep the game even. Carson-Newman edged out Anderson in the shot tally in the third period 4-3. Both keepers captured header attempts in the frame.
In the final overtime session, more of the same happened with both teams firing three shots each and the keepers making a crucial save.
C-N formulated a strong goal-scoring opportunity with a busy sequence in front of the goal in the 106th minute. Nencho Margaritha (The Hague, Netherlands) launched a shot toward the net that was saved by Elyashiv before Drew Bridge (Salisbury, England) picked up a rebound in the scuffle that he sent flying high.
Elyashiv needed just one more save in the match that Verweij did with the saves tally leaning toward Anderson, 4-3.
Both keepers have now allowed just eight goals each through the season until this point, a SAC-leading amount.
Aside from Kelynack, only two other Eagles accounted for multiple shots as Karlsen took four attempts while Jonny Le Quesne (Jersey, Channel Islands) took two.
On the Anderson side, Shalev Keter came off the bench and led both teams in shots with six attempts. He was also the only player in the game to have multiple shots land on frame.
As a whole, the Trojans took the most shots of any C-N opponent this season, besting the next highest total of 17 set by Alabama Huntsville on Sept. 22. It was the most shots allowed by an opponent since then-seventh-ranked Young Harris fired 25 against the Eagles on Oct. 11, 2017.
The five-match homestand comes to a close for Carson-Newman on Wednesday as No. 10 Lander comes to town for a nonconference match. That match will begin at 7 p.m. Fans who cannot make it to McCown Field can catch a live broadcast of the game at cneagles.com.
