VIDEO: Highlight Story versus Erskine
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – South Atlantic Conference action begins for Carson-Newman on Wednesday night as a surging Mars Hill side visits McCown Field for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
Carson-Newman (1-2) is a week removed from winning its first match of the 2021 campaign with an electrifying 6-2 victory over Erskine. Four Eagles accounted for goals in the match including a hat trick from Thaylan Silva (São Paulo, Brazil). It was the most goals the Eagles have scored in a single match since the 2019 season.
"You always keep yourself grounded, so yes, we take a lot of the positives, certainly in the attacking play," Carson-Newman coach Stephen Lyons said. "We do know that there are other areas where we need to strengthen a lot and improve on, and that's what the training ground it for."
With his hat trick, Silva is now tied for second in the league with four goals, good enough for the seventh-most in the nation. He is up to eight points this season, also tied for seventh in Division II. Collecting two assists in the win, Yannick Kranz (Hannover, Germany) has the second-most assists in the SAC thus far and it tied for 29th nationally.
Good morning from the 16th Eagle in @CNmenssoccer history to net a hat trick: Thaylan Silva pic.twitter.com/LH1jlIsQaU
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) September 9, 2021
C-N has won just one SAC opener in the last four seasons, that win coming on Sept. 18, 2019 over Lincoln Memorial, 2-1. In league-opening tilts, Carson-Newman is 16-14-2 all-time. Overall, C-N holds a 144-89-23 record against the league. Since 1990, the Eagles have gone 75-42-9 at home in regular season conference matches and 68-39-14 on the road.
Lyons' group heads into the contest with a five-match winning streak in regular season SAC meetings. The last league loss it faced came on Feb. 25, 2021 when it fell 1-0 to Lincoln Memorial. A win would match the longest streak of conference wins since the 2017 season when C-N won six straight. The longest string of league victories spanned the 2009-2010 seasons when the Eagles won 11 consecutive.
C-N and Mars Hill (2-1-1) are meeting for the 38th time since 1989 with C-N holding a substantial 22-10-5 record in the series. Since Lyons took the helm for the Orange and Blue, it has not seen a loss in the series, going 3-0-2 since 2017 and outscoring the Lions 10-1 in that span, winning each of the last three.
The Eagles have a 9-6-3 edge in the series when playing at McCown Field. The last time they fell to the Lions was on the home pitch on Sept. 21, 2016 in a 3-2 decision.
The last meeting between the Eagles and Lions came in the regular season finale on April 1, 2021 with C-N leaving Mars Hill, N.C. with a 3-0 shutout victory. Nic Carsh (Newberg, Ore.) grabbed the first multi-goal outing of his career, sandwiching a goal from Silva. Bram Kaarsgaren (Den Bosch, The Netherlands) and the Eagle defense continued their run of dominance with their sixth clean sheet of the 2020-21 season, holding Mars Hill to a 22-8 shot deficit. Theo Hardenby Öhrwall (Helsingborg, Sweden) accounted for an assist on each of the three goals, making him the fifth player in program history to do so. Thomas Bertelsen's three shots were the most attempted by a Lion. Brennan Whalen was called upon for four saves for in the 75:17 he played before he was shown a red card. Daniel Burdaspar went without a save in relief.
Gregg Munn, the reigning SAC Coach of the Year, brings in a Mars Hill squad that is on a three-match unbeaten streak since losing its season-opener to No. 1 Charleston, 5-1. Since then, the Lions have outscored their opponents 10-3 with a 2-0-1 run. Their last outing was a 6-2 victory at USC Aiken on Saturday. They started with a fury, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first 18 minutes with Kevonte Willoughby-Williams scoring a hat trick nearly 15 minutes in. It was the first time the Lions had posted six goals in a match since a 6-2 win over Catawba on Sept. 26, 2018.
The Lions lead the SAC with 11 goals, nine assists and 31 points in the first four matches. They average the third-most shots per game at 15.8 and have been booked for the second-most red cards with two. They are seventh and eighth in the nation for goals and points, respectively.
Sebastian Bertilsson returns this season after a first-team All-SAC campaign in the spring. This season, he leads the conference with four assists and 12 points. He has been the leading shot-take for Mars Hill this year, landing eight of his 13 attempts on frame. He is the only Lion to line up for a penalty kick this season, going 1-2 in his attempts. Both he and Willoughby-Williams lead the Lions with four goals this season.
Whalen has been the primary Lion in net for the Lions this season with a 2-1-1 record. He has allowed eight goals with 14 saves and one shutout.
Wednesday's match at McCown Field is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. The Eagle Sports Network will bring fans a live broadcast of the contest at cneagles.com/live.
