JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- The Carson-Newman men's soccer team begins their 2022 journey at McCown field tomorrow afternoon when it welcomes in West Alabama.
Tomorrow's matchup between the Eagles and the Tigers will be the first ever meeting.
"It's been a good preseason for the most part," Coach Stephen Lyons said. "A couple of good scrimmages that the guys got under their belt. Now we'll get a real tests Thursday and Sunday against two tough opponents, hopefully the guys are ready."
C-N is coming off a season in which it finished the year 11-4-1, before being knocked out of the SAC tournament by Coker. The Eagles season ended in penalty kicks.
Despite losing the reigning offensive and defensive player in the SAC conference, the Eagles still return a healthy dose of players that contributed at a high level. Senior Harry Whitehead leads the group of returners, he scored six goals and added three assists in 2021. Yannik Kranz returns after leading the team in assists with six.
The Eagles also return a lot from a defense that allowed a conference best 17 goals in 16 games played. C-N returns a combined 79 games played and a total of 64 starts from its 2021 defenders.
C-N has been picked to finish 1st in the SAC. The Eagles placed Whitehead and defender Eric Schmutzer on the preseason all-SAC first team. It is the fifth straight season that C-N has placed at least 2 players on the first team. On the second team, was forward Kranz and Nic Carsh.
Since 1989, Carson-Newman has gone 16-16-1 in season-opening matches. Last year's home loss to Lee snapped a six-match winning streak in such matches.
West Alabama finished the 2021 season with a 7-10 overall record and went 5-6 in Gulf South Conference play. The Tigers season also ended off a penalty kick in the first round of the GSC tournament.
The Tigers have been picked to finish 9th in the GSC preseason coaches poll. Three players were named to the GSC men's soccer newcomer watch list, forward Patrick Sacher, midfielder Shane Petit and defender Ellis Williamson.
West Ala. has lost its first road game in back-to-back seasons.
"I know the head coach really well, Ross (Nelson) was a player for me at (Tennessee) Wesleyan and was on staff with me as well, Lyons said. "I have a lot of respect for him, I know he'll have them organized and a quality team coming in. We wanted a tougher schedule this year and I think we'll definitely have that in the first two games."
C-N's season opener will kick off at 4pm. Be certain to follow Carson-Newman athletics on twitter at @cneagles for live updates and via cneagles.com throughout the 2022 season.
The game can be streamed on FloSports with a subscription.
