VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The first South Atlantic Conference road contest of the season for Carson-Newman sends it to Wingate for a Saturday night showdown with the reigning SAC Tournament Champions at the WU Soccer Complex.
Carson-Newman (2-2, 1-0 SAC) opened up its league slate on Wednesday with a 2-1 win over Mars Hill, pushing the team to a six-match winning streak in regular season SAC meetings. On the year, C-N has won back-to-back matches after falling in the opening two, currently out-scoring opponent 9-7. It is second in the league for corner kicks with 29 while sitting at third with 13.75 shots per game.
"It was a big performance," Carson-Newman coach Stephen Lyons said. "We knew going in how well-organized Mars Hill were going to be, what our game plan needed to be. Even in the first half, we created a couple of good opportunities, took the one-goal lead. They did well to come back and equalize, but then to show the character in the second half to come out and put in the performance that we did was excellent."
Another streak is on the line in the hefty contest with C-N holding a nine-match unbeaten streak in conference road games, going 6-0-3 since a 2-0 loss at Wingate on Oct. 20, 2018. This is the first of six road matches for Lyons' group this season, going 139-109-24 in away contests since 1990.
C-N and Wingate (2-2-1, 0-0-1 SAC) have met 36 times prior to Saturday with the Eagles trailing 12-18-6 all-time. The Eagles have not seen a win in the series since a 4-1 victory against a seventh-ranked Bulldogs side back on Oct. 17, 2015. Since Stephen Lyons took over the program in 2017, C-N has gone 0-3-1 overall.
It has been 14 years since the Eagles won a match at Wingate. Since then, they have gone 0-5-1 in matches on the Bulldogs' pitch, holding a 3-8-5 record all-time.
This will be a revenge match of sorts for the Eagles after falling to the fourth-seeded Bulldogs in the SAC Spring Tournament semifinals on April 8 as the No. 1 seed. Wingate netted a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes to end a six-match winning streak for the Eagles. C-N outshot Wingate 12-7 with Thaylan Silva (São Paulo, Brazil) leading at five attempts and one on frame. Each side was shown a red card in the 55th minute taking Nic Carsh (Newberg, Ore.) and Bendix Staade out of the match after a midfield collision opposite the benches, forcing both teams to play with 10 men the rest of the way. Wingate broke the stalemate with a Nick Bennett header in the 80th minute, the first goal C-N had allowed in 681:22 of gameplay since February 25. An attempted clearance near the six-yard box with 10 seconds remaining was captured by Daniel Kuper just shy of the top of the penalty area before firing it to the back of the net.
Wingate is on a run of three unbeaten matches since opening the season with back-to-back losses, going 2-0-1 since. It defeated Francis Marion and Shaw with a pair of shutouts before a 3-3 draw at Queens to open South Atlantic Conference action on Wednesday. After the season-opening losses, Wingate has outscored its opponents 9-3.
"I think they're actually better than what the record stands for," Lyons said. "Always well-organized, solid defensively and then they always have some real dangerous attacking options as well. So, we'll expect it to be a tough game on Saturday for sure."
In his 30th season as the head coach of the Bulldogs, Gary Hamill's group won its fourth SAC Tournament title in six years during the spring campaign, taking down a then-No. 7 ranked Lenoir-Rhyne squad, 1-0. That paired with a No. 6 ranking in the preseason United Soccer Coaches poll helped the Bulldogs to be tabbed as the preseason favorite in the SAC coaches' poll this year. They return all seven of their All-SAC picks from the season ago, including five first-team selections.
It has been four years since Wingate last lost a conference match on its home pitch, that loss coming in a 1-0 decision to Lenoir-Rhyne on Oct. 21. 2017. Since then, the Bulldogs have gone 11-0-2 in home SAC contests.
The returning All-SAC First Team trio of Mikkel Fahlen Bruun, Soren Nygaard and Owen Marshall lead the Bulldogs in goal scoring this season, each scoring a pair of goals through the first five matches. Nygaard leads Wingate in overall scoring with six points on two goals and two assists. The forward has proven to be an offensive threat to opponents this season, making 19 shot attempts with 11 on frame. He leads the conference with 2.75 shots on goal per game, good enough for eighth among Division II players.
Jamie Boegel has been the primary keeper for Wingate this season, starting in all five matches. He has accounted for 1.1 shutouts, allowing six goals with a .739 save percentage.
As a team, Wingate is fifth in the league with a 1.385 goals against average and a 3.60 saves per game clip.
Saturday's match is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. from the Wingate Soccer Complex. The staff at Wingate will provide a live broadcast and live stats for the matchup with up-to-the-minute tweets hitting the Twitter feed via @CN_Eagles.
