HICKORY, N.C. - Jaime Poza was a thorn in the side for the Carson-Newman Eagles, recording three points to give #21 Lenoir-Rhyne a 2-0 victory on Wednesday, Nov. 3.
"Tonight's performance was certainly not to our level," says head men's soccer coach Stephen Lyons. "L-R are a good team but we made too many simple mistakes and we were punished. We know we need to do better going into Saturday's game and will look to bounce back in the quarterfinal."
Carson-Newman (11-4, 9-2) saw several chances in the first half to open up the scoring early, outshooting the Bears 7-3 through the first 45 minutes of action. Eric Schmutzer almost found the back of the net in the eighth minute with a header that just went wide.
A goal by Dani Fernandez off an assist by Poza in the 24th minute gave the Bears the 1-0 lead early. It marked the first time Carson-Newman has trailed in a game since falling behind 1-0 to Coker in the 23rd minute of the match on Oct. 23. Carson-Newman kept the Bears off the scoreboard for the rest of the half, thanks to a pair of saves by Bram Kaarsgaren.
Harry Whitehead saw his best chance of the game in the 49th minute on a scorpion kick right in front of the box that went high.
Later in the second half, Poza found the back of the net himself with a goal off of an assist on a deep ball cleared by goalkeeper Juan Basabe in the 57th minute to extend the Bears lead to 2-0 in the second half. It is just the fourth time this season Carson-Newman has allowed two goals in a match, the last time happening on Oct. 9 in the Eagles 2-1 double overtime loss to Anderson.
Kaarsgaren recorded another phenomenal save on a breakaway by the Bears in the 65th minute to keep the defecit at two. Whitehead had another chance to cut the lead in half in the 77th minute, but was called offsides before he could get off a shot.
Lenoir-Rhyne (10-4-1, 7-3-1) recorded a late chance in the 85th minute that went high and when the horn sounded, the Bears held firm at Moretz Stadium with a 2-0 victory.
Carson-Newman was outshot 7-2 in the second half and 10-9 for the match. It is just the third time this season the Eagles have been outshot, losing every single match.
The Eagles fall to 3-5-2 under Stephen Lyons against ranked opponents. It is also Carson-Newman's first loss of the year in the navy and black kits. The Eagles were 5-0 entering the matchup in the dark attire.
Lenoir-Rhyne has now won five of the last six matches against the Eagles and three straight outright. It is the Bears second longest streak of the series as they won seven straight matches from 1989-1994. Carson-Newman has lost three straight matches against the Bears at Moretz Stadium, their longest losing streak in Hickory since the sqaud fell in four straight matches from 1998-2002.
The Eagles fall to 1-3 in matches where they have given up at least two goals in a match this season, the lone win being a 6-2 victory over Erskine. Carson-Newman is now just 3-8-3 under Stephen Lyons when conceding two goals.
This is the first time since a 1-0 loss to Shorter on Sept. 4 that the Eagles have been shutout. It is the first time since the 2021 spring SAC Semifinal match against Wingate on April 8 that the Eagles have been shutout in conference play. Carson-Newman fell to the Bulldogs 2-0 in that matchup.
Entering the matchup, Carson-Newman had lead for 491:31 of the 810 minutes played in regulation in SAC matches this season. The squad trailed for 15:44 in regulation in the Eagles' 3-1 win over Coker earlier in the year and the loss to Anderson came on a golden goal in double overtime. Lenoir-Rhyne lead for 66:24, the second longest time the Eagles have trailed in a match this season. Carson-Newman trailed Lee for 80:44 in their first match of the season, a 3-1 loss to the Flames.
Despite the loss, Thaylan Silva continues to climb in the Carson-Newman record books. The senior played 79 minutes in the contest, giving him 4207 career minutes played. That mark moves him past Tobias Solemn Karlsen for 10th most minutes played in program history. Silva now sits at just 46 minutes behind Samuel Jenkins for ninth most career minutes played.
Greg Evans broke a tie with former Eagle Vince Vargas for third most career starts in program history. The captain made his 70th start tonight in the orange and blue.
Kaarsgaren made his 40th start in goal for the Eagles, becoming just the fourth keeper in program history to achieve that mark.
The Eagles finish the regular season with 27 points and a record of 11-4 and 9-2 in conference play. It is the most wins in the regular season for Carson-Newman under Lyons and the most in the regular season since 2015 when the team won thirteen regular season matches.
Carson-Newman will now begin their quest for their first SAC Tournament championship since 2005 with a quarterfinal match on Saturday, Nov. 6 against the eighth seeded Coker Cobras. Kickoff is set for 7:30 PM from McCown Field. Fans who cannot make it out to Mossy Creek for the postseason matchup can catch live stats and a free live video broadcast via the Eagle Sports Network at cneagles.com/live. The Eagle faithful can also follow along on social media for updates at the new Twitter home of Carson-Newman athletics, @cn_eagles.
