JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- After going down two goals early, Carson-Newman (2-0) used a 20-minute first half stretch which included four goals to get past Spring Hill (1-1) Sunday afternoon, 5-3.
Spring Hill was a real good test for us, good team well-coached, well-organized," Head Coach Stephen Lyons said. "There were a couple little slips on the first goal and then a pretty nice strike from Spring Hill on the second. It was quite a setback early on, but I thought the boys reacted well after our first goal. Some of the combination play in the middle and then the quality in the final third was excellent."
It did not take long for the scoring to get started. Spring Hill forward Jo Hanken Tjostheim scored in the 8th minute on a good feed from Darri Gardarsson to put the Badgers ahead early. Just two minutes later, off a set piece, Badgers midfielder Manuel Mihalits fired a rocket from the top of the box into the upper left corner to put Spring Hill up 2-0.
The Eagles did not waste long to punch back, and it did so effectively. Senior defender Eric Schmutzer scored his second career goal off a poor clearance effort on the Badgers part to cut the Spring Hill lead in half in the 19th minute. C-N would strike again in the 27th minute. Senior Willem Kruijk made an excellent run and sent a cross into the box where fellow senior Nic Carsh slotted the ball in the lower left corner to tie the game at two.
Carsh wasn't finished, seven minutes later he was able to sneak behind the defense and dribble around Badgers goalkeeper Lucas Pezzano and fire home C-N's third goal to give the Eagles the lead.
"On the first one Willem (Kruijk) made a great play and it was really just a tap in after that," Carsh said. "The second one I thought I was offside, but it worked out. It's good to start going early and I hope to get a lot more goals this season."
Carson-Newman would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way. The Eagles final goal of the first half came off a good cross from senior Jannik Schulte, as once again the Badgers had trouble clearing the ball, and senior Gabe Stevens pounced on the opportunity to score his first career goal to give C-N the 4-2 advantage after the first 45 minutes.
Spring Hill regrouped at the half and came out firing. In the 49th minute, it was Tjosthiem again who scored on a good pass from Joao Amaral, but the Eagles still led 4-3. Carson-Newman's defense held strong despite giving up the early second half goal, to shutout the Badgers the rest of the way. C-N got an insurance goal in the 81st minute when senior Tim Vercelli dribbled all the way through the Badgers defense to fire a shot in the right corner of the goal to help seal the 5-3 win.
Four different players combined to score C-N's five goals in the match. Spring Hill outshot C-N 14-13, but the Eagles put eight shots on goal, while the Badgers only had four on target.
Freshman Eric Thust made his first career start in goal, recording one save.
It's the second time this season that the Eagles have won, despite conceding the first goal of the match. It's just the seventh time under Lyons the Eagles have done so. Lyons coached teams improve to a stellar 32-1-2 when leading at the half.
C-N scored five goals for the first time since 2017, when it shutout Newberry 5-0. The Eagles remain undefeated under Lyons when scoring three goals or more.
The Eagles hit the road for the first time in 2022 when they travel to Young Harris for a Wednesday evening matchup.
