JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – When Carson-Newman and Tusculum go to battle on Friday evening at McCown Field for Senior Day, it will mark the first of two meetings between the South Atlantic Conference rivals in a span of four days.
Carson-Newman (3-1-1, 2-1 SAC) will honor four of its graduating seniors before the match – two-year Eagles Nyasha Mwamuka (Newtown, Wales), Harrison Collins (Cardiff, Wales) and Rik van Dijk (Roden, the Netherlands) and one of this year's newcomers Gordon Zebrowski (Hattingen, Germany). Between the four of them, they have combined for 26 starts in 42 appearances on the pitch with four assists.
The two sides meet on Friday before turning around to make up a previously postponed match on Monday evening at Pioneer Field in Greeneville, Tenn. They were originally slated to play at Tusculum (1-2-1, 0-2-1 SAC) back on March 11 but that was postponed due to COVID exposure within the Tusculum program.
A win on Friday would give C-N a three-match winning streak, its longest since it pieced today four-consecutive in October 2019. It would also give Lyons' group its first home SAC win streak since it won back-to-back in September 2019 when it took down Lincoln Memorial and Newberry.
The Orange and Blue head into the match as the second-highest scoring team in the league with eight goals, an amount that leads the four teams in Pod 3. As a whole, the unit leads the conference with 78 shots, 31 shots on goal, 43 corner kicks and is tied for the most shutouts at three. C-N currently sits at seventh in all of Division II for corners awarded and is tied for ninth in shutouts. It is currently one point out of the lead in the group, tied with Lincoln Memorial at six points on the table, good enough for a share of fifth, overall. Mars Hill leads pod 3 with seven points while Tusculum sits at the bottom with one.
Harry Whitehead (Oxford, England) leads the SAC with 16 shot attempts, a total that is tied for 27th nationally. He is also tied for first in the league with eight shots on goal, putting him in a tie for 35th at the Division II level.
In net, Bram Kaarsgaren (Den Bosch, The Netherlands) is tied for the fewest goals allowed in the SAC with two and has the best goals against average with a 0.40 clip, giving him a national placement of tied for 28th and standalone 19th, respectively.
C-N and Tusculum meet for the 37th and 38th time with these upcoming matches in a rivalry that dates back to 1990 with C-N trailing in the all-time series 12-18-6, currently in a four-match streak without a win. The last win came in a double-overtime thriller at home on Oct. 19, 2016, taking down then-ranked No. 7 Pioneers 2-1 on a game-winner from Thibault Mathorez in the 107th minute. Since then, C-N has gone 0-2-2 against Tusculum and has been outscored 6-3.
When playing in Jefferson City, C-N has gone 5-7-3, being outscored 27-32. When Tusculum hosts, C-N also trails 6-8-3 with a 27-35 shot deficit.
This season, Tusculum's only win came in non-conference action with a 3-1 win over King back on February 17.
The last meeting between the two sides came on Nov. 6, 2019 in a regular-season finale that gave C-N a share of the SAC regular-season crown for the first time since 2015. The two sides saw a scoreless affair heading into halftime, but Tusculum's Henrique Devens ended that with a score in the 56th minute. It took the Eagles until the 83rd minute to find an answer on a free kick from Thaylan Silva after a yellow card was shown to TU. Neither team could add on goals through the remainder of regulation and both overtime periods. The Eagles held a narrow 11-10 lead in shots on the night and was awarded 13 corner kicks.
The Pioneers coming into the match after playing two matches in a span of three days, tying with Mars Hill on March 20 before falling at Lincoln Memorial, 2-1, on March 22. This came after the program faced a two-week layoff for COVID-19 management protocols.
Tusculum is one of three SAC teams that has been booked with a red card this season. It has scored five goals, the same amount of goals scored by its opponents, while attempting 52 shots for a 13.0 shot average.
In his 10th season at the helm of the Tusculum program, Allen Vital is no stranger to the Eagles. Before returning to his alma mater, he served as the C-N head coach for 13 seasons, amassing a 159-76-19 record.
Sophomore forward Damien Baltide has paced the Tusculum offense this season with two goals and two assists for six points.
Jean-Pierre Vital has been the leading shot-taker for the Pioneers this season, sending out 15 attempts with seven on frame for a league-best 3.67 shots per game clip. The son of head coach Allen Vital, he accounted for the team's lone game-winning goal this year, scoring in the 21st minute at King with an assist from Baltide.
Out of the five All-SAC selections from a year ago, the only one to return is honorable mention defender Dani Gongora. The senior has started on the back line in each match this season. Second team defender Georgios Charkoutsakis came back to the squad this season as a graduate assistant coach.
Freshman Joao Kozlowski has been the primary netminder for Tusculum, starting in all four matches. He holds a goals against average of 1.15 while saving at a .688 clip.
Both matches are set to kick off at 5 p.m. Details on live streaming Friday's contest from McCown Field will be available closer to the start of the match on Twitter via @CNathletics. Fans are encouraged to follow live scoring at cneagles.com/livestats with real-time updates hitting Twitter. Monday's meeting at Pioneer Field will have a live stream from the folks at Tusculum that can be accessed by clicking here.
