SALISBURY, N.C. – No. 11 Carson-Newman (7-2-5, 5-1-4) overcame second half adversity to steal three points from Catawba (8-4-1, 5-3-1) Saturday afternoon in Salisbury, North Carolina.
"Fantastic performance today and the lads really dug in to get a great result on the road," Carson-Newman head coach Stephen Lyons said. "After going down to 10 men, we again showed great resilience to stay in the game at a goal down. The effort was brillant from everyone and I feel we actually did really well without the extra man. I couldn't have asked much more and thought the lads deserved it in the end.
The win and three points sends C-N into the weekend in sole possession of first place in the South Atlantic Conference standings. The Eagles are now 3-0-2 on the road in conference play this season
Catawba recorded the first four shots of the game, all coming in the first eight minutes of action. Only of those shots required a save from senior goalkeeper Darin De Meza.
C-N's first shot of the contest came in the 23rd minute, as senior Yannick Kranz sent a shot high and wide of goal.
The next shot of the match came in the 33rd minute off the right foot of senior Harry Whitehead, but it missed to the left. Three minutes later, Whitehead created another chance, but his shot was saved by Catawba keeper Zac Stiffler. The two teams went into the half scoreless.
The first chances of the second half came a minute apart. Catawba's Tom Savigar had a shot toward the bottom right corner of goal saved by De Meza. The Eagles' chance came off the foot of sophomore Daniel McIlroy forcing a Stiffler save.
Catawba struck first in the 58th minute. A shot was fired from Bautista Vecchi-Ramello, but the Eagles defense helped keep his shot out of the back of the net. The shot took a deflection and found the foot of Salano Birch who took advantage to put the Indians on the board 1-0.
Things changed in the 64th minute, after a foul was called on senior Nic Carsh. He was shown a red card for the foul, forcing the Eagles to play down a man for the rest of the match.
Just went it looked like Catawba had all the momentum. C-N responded in the 71st minute. Senior Niels Buurman fired a ball into the box where senior Eric Schmutzer headed it in the top right corner of goal to tie the match at 1. The goal was Schmutzer's third this season and Buurman's assist was his third.
De Meza kept the match tied in the 81st minute making a save on Joe Bennett's shot. De Meza recorded four saves in the match.
C-N did not record another shot until senior Ben King drew a foul in the box, awarding the Eagles with a penalty kick in the 88th minute. Senior Yannick Kranz stepped up and buried the penalty in the bottom right corner to put the Eagles ahead for good 2-1.
This is the second time the Eagles have won, despite playing with a player down this season.
C-N was outshot 15-7 in the match. Each team was shown three cards, one of those cards to C-N being a red card.
The Eagles return to action Tuesday for their final home regular season match of this season. Auburn Montgomery comes to Mossy Creek for a 1:00 pm kick off.
The game can be streamed on FloSports with a subscription. Follow along on Twitter and Instagram @CN_eagles for updates throughout the match.
