JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- Carson Newman (1-0) welcomes Spring Hill (1-0) to McCown field for a Sunday afternoon matchup. This will be the second straight GSC opponent the Eagles will face to begin the season.
The Eagles look to build off the momentum from Thursday's come from behind victory against West Alabama. The Eagles comeback effort started when senior Jannik Schulte scored a penalty kick in the 77th minute. Just six minutes later, senior Willem Kruijk booted home a shot off a counterattack to put the Eagles ahead. That goal would turn out to be the game-winner. Both goals were Schulte and Kruijk's first career goals.
Gustavo Moses Bessa led the Eagles with 4 shots in his C-N debut. Ewan Lynch started and recorded two shots in his Eagles debut as well. Tim Vercelli and Jakob Lechner each added two shots in the season opener.
Darrin De Meza made his 2nd career start in goal and recorded his 2nd career win.
There were more fouls than shots in the season opener for these two teams. C-N had 16 of the 22 shots with 7 shots on goal. The two teams combined for 27 fouls and 17 cards. Two red cards for UWA and one for C-N.
Under Coach Stephen Lyons, C-N wins for just the sixth time when conceding the first goal. Since Lyons took over, C-N is 4-3 against Gulf South Conference opponents.
Spring Hill also began its season with a victory. The Badgers won 2-0 against Tusculum on Friday night. Jo Hanken Tjostheim scored the first goal in the 24th minute off an assist from Hugo Frivold. The other goal was scored on a penalty kick by Albert Vilatruco.
Spring Hill was outshot 8-6 in the match and only had three shots on goal, two of which went in.
Seven freshmen started the season opener for the Badgers and five others came off the bench and saw time on the pitch.
Badgers have been picked to finish 7th in the GSC.
The Sunday afternoon tilt will be the first time C-N plays on a Sunday since Sep. 27, 2015 when it defeated Queens (N.C.) 2-1.
Kick off is set for 1:00 p.m. 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.
