JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -- Carson-Newman is still on the search for its first South Atlantic Conference victory of the season as it hosts Mars Hill at 7:30 Thursday night under the lights of McCown Field.
Last Thursday's home-opening loss to Lincoln Memorial resulted in Carson-Newman (1-1-1, 0-1 SAC) falling in its first regular season conference game since a 4-2 loss against Lenoir-Rhyne on Oct. 2, 2019, also the last home league loss before last Thursday.
The loss moved the Eagles to their third 1-1-1 start to the season in program history. The prior occurrences were seasons that ended with SAC regular season titles, those being 2010 and 2009.
The Eagles still managed to out-shoot the Railsplitters 18-1 in the defeat, extending its streak of shooting advantages to six-straight spanning this and the 2019 season. In that time, C-N has held a 103-61 margin for shots over its opponents.
Despite the loss, C-N still holds a substantial lead in its record against league sides, going 139-89-23 in conference matches. When those matches are played at C-N, the Eagles hold a 74-42-9 record, dating back to 1990.
Mars Hill (1-0-1, 1-0 SAC), on the other hand, comes into the matchup after winning its first road contest since Oct. 18, 2017 when it defeated Lincoln Memorial. Since then, the Lions had gone 0-13-1 when playing away from Meares Stadium.
Mars Hill opened pod play with a 1-0 win over Tusculum on February 25. Sebastian Bertilsson netted the game-winner against Tusculum in the 85th minute on a header. In net, Brennan Whalen grabbed his first win of the season, making just a pair of saves. It was the first SAC win for the team since Sept. 26, 2018 when it defeated Catawba, 6-2.
After last week's start to pod action, Mars Hill sits tied atop the Pod 3 standings with Lincoln Memorial, both sides holding three points. C-N leads the pod and the entire conference in scoring with four goals overall so far this season. Its three games played are the most for the league. Mars Hill has the second-fewest goals allowed in the pod with one.
In series history, C-N leads by a substantial 20-10-5 mark, not seeing a loss to Mars Hill since a Sept. 21, 2016 meeting at McCown Field where it fell 3-2. Overall, the Eagles have a slight 8-6-3 advantage when hosting the Lions.
Two of the last three meetings between these two sides has resulted in a draw with five in the series that dates back to 1989. C-N has seen more ties overall against just two other teams, those being Tusculum and Wingate with six.
Last year's 3-0 for Carson-Newman at Mars Hill saw three different Eagles score goals. The Eagles' defense provided a substantial performance in the victory, allowing just three shots total from the Lions on the night, all in the second half. Evan Harr got the ball rolling for C-N in the 42nd minute with his first goal since 2016 and first career game-winner. C-N poured on more goals in the second half thanks to Will Sainsbury-Logan and Nic Carsh (Newberg, Ore.). Of Carson-Newman's 20 shots on the night, Thaylan Silva (São Paulo, Brazil) and Carsh combined for eight attempts with four each. They each had a shot land on frame.
Third-year head coach Gregg Munn's group was slated at the No. 12 spot in this season's SAC Preseason Coaches Poll. The Lions went 4-12-1 in 2019, 0-10 in conference play.
Bertilsson is tied for the lead among goal scorers and game-winners in the league thus far with two and one, respectively. He leads the Lions with three shots on goal this season. His four points are enough to place him in a tie for second in the conference, just one point shy of C-N's Theo Hardenby Öhrwall (Stockholm, Sweden). He was the only Lion to land Preseason All-SAC honors, being named a second-team forward. He closed his junior season with a pair of goals, one a game-winner, along with two assists before an injury shortened his season. He was the team leader in goals during the 2018 season, netting goals and an assist in 15 matches.
Whalen was tabbed the league's AstroTurf Defensive Player of the Week on February 17 after leading Mars Hill to a 1-1 season-opening draw against Anderson. He made six saves in the match, allowing just one goal. Those saves matched the second-most in a single game for his career. His highest save tally came in a 3-1 loss at Shorter in 2019, making eight that day. He is up to eight saves this season, good enough for the second-most in the SAC. He holds a .889 saving clip with just one goal allowed.
As a unit, the Lions lead the SAC this season with three assists and are second to C-N when it comes to the most corner kicks taken on the year with 12. C-N leads that mark with 27 through three matches.
Thursday's contest is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. from McCown Field. The Eagle Sports Network will provide a live stream at cneagles.com/live with real-time updates coming on Twitter via @CNathletics.
