JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- The 19th ranked Carson-Newman men's soccer (3-1-2, 1-0) welcomes Wingate (2-2-2, 1-0-1) to McCown field for C-N's South Atlantic Conference home opener Saturday night.
Saturday night's home match with Wingate will be C-N's first home match in 20 days. During the road trip, the Eagles went 1-1-2. The win coming in a 1-0 effort last time out against Anderson. The match will be the first time C-N plays as a ranked team this season.
Seniors Willem Kruijk and Nic Carsh lead the team in goals scored with two each. Seven other Eagles have scored this season. Kruijk leads C-N with two assists, while both of his goals have been game-winners.
Senior goalkeeper Darin De Meza has started five of the six games in goal. He has recorded 13 saves and one shutout. Seven of his thirteen saves have come in the last two matches. De Meza's 1.00 goals against average ranks 8th best currently in a single season for a C-N goalkeeper.
Seniors Ben King and Eric Schmutzer have been warriors for the Eagles through six games. Both have not left the pitch in 2022, having played in all 540:00 minutes. King is currently 7th all-time in career minutes played with 4,388 minutes. If King plays 63 minutes on Saturday, he will move into 6th, passing Tom Read who played for the Eagles from 2015-2017.
Wingate enters the match at 2-2-2 overall and 1-0-1 in SAC action.
The Bulldogs started the season slow with back-to-back losses but have recovered winning two in a row. The most recent win yesterday against Emory & Henry 7-0. Mattis Westberg and Fabio Rodrigues each scored two goals in the win.
Junior Niclas Wittur leads the team in goals (3), points (6), shots, (14) shots on goal (5) and yellow cards (4).
Freshman Aleksa Janjic has been solid in goal for Wingate. He has 19 saves this season, allowing six goals and has one clean sheet.
"They're a really solid team, a lot of quality returning players," Carson-Newman head coach Stephen Lyons said. "Obviously Gary (Hamill) has been around quite a while, so he always does a good job, knows how to get them organized. We can expect another real tough matchup. We're looking forward to it."
Wingate leads the all-time series 8-4-1. C-N took last year's meeting 3-1 in Wingate, N.C.
The match is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start.
The game can be streamed on FloSports with a subscription. Follow along at @CN_eagles on Twitter and Instagram for in-game updates.
