VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview
VIDEO: Daniel Vennesland Interview
VIDEO: Mitchell Honcoop Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Scoring three goals in the final 24 minutes, Carson-Newman (5-6-5, 3-5-3) battled back to defeat in-state rival Tusculum to secure a spot in the South Atlantic Conference tournament.
"I thought all the goals had some individual brilliance about them," Carson-Newman head coach Stephen Lyons said. "Came out in the final match of the season and for us that's the statement win we've been looking for all year. Hopefully now since we get Wingate, we can continue forward and carry this momentum."
The comeback win gives C-N the eight seed in the SAC tournament which is slated to begin on Saturday.
It's the sixth time this season that Carson-Newman trailed at halftime, but the first time it has won when trialing at the break. Under Lyons, it's just the second time he has coached a team to a comeback victory when down at halftime and first time this season.
The win to kick off November is the first time since 2015 that the Eagles have won a game in November. It's also the first regular season win in November since 2014.
Tusculum got the first chance of the game, as Cristobal Moreales sent a shot on goal that Federico Simonetti (Crema, Italy) saved in the fifth minute. Carson-Newman's first opportunity came in the 13th minute off the left foot of Daniel Vennesland (Tanager, Norway) and forced a Nicolas Leite save.
TU's next chance found the back of the net. Abjorn Saevik crossed a ball into the box that ended up on the back post where Gui Busato was left alone and headed it home to make it 1-0 Pioneers in the 24th minute.
Carson-Newman's offense began to ramp up after the Pioneers scored. The Eagles managed six shots in the final 20 minutes of the opening half but came up empty. Mitchell Honcoop, Tim Haans and Dan Coles all had chances that at goal that were saved by the Pioneers. The Eagles outshot the Pioneers 9-6 in the opening half.
The second half was a completely different story, in a better way for Carson-Newman. In the 66th minute, the Eagles drew a foul roughly 20 yards or so outside the box. Honcoop took the straight away free kick and fired a shot into the upper left corner of goal to level the match at 1. It was his second goal this year and first since the season opener.
That goal proved to be the shot in the arm that the Eagles needed to secure a win. Vennesland raced across midfield and began dribbling the ball into the attacking half. It wasn't until just outside the box that a Pioneer defender stepped up to force the ball off his feet where he found Tim Haans. Haans gave it right back to Vennesland who booted a left footed shot off the right post that bounced back into the net to make it 2-1. The goal was Vennesland's first career goal and it was Haans who got his first career assist.
"I received the ball and my immediate thought was to go forward," Vennesland said. "I sort of assessed my options and saw that the space was to go inside. I kept driving and eventually saw Tim (Haans) who laid off a great pass and I felt like I had a lot of time and space to actually take the finish, so that was good."
After going ahead 2-1, Carson-Newman needed to defend to maintain the lead and a spot in the SAC tournament. It did exactly that. Simonetti made saves in the 87th and 89th minutes to keep the Eagles in front.
After his final save of the match, it led to Carson-Newman to countering the other way. Harry Whitehead (Oxford, England) raced up the nearside and crossed a ball to Maxime Wester who chipped his shot over the keeper to put the finishing touches on a 3-1 win to end the regular season.
Carson-Newman entered the match with just nine goals in conference play and just two games with three goals or more this season.
"I think we should take a lot of confidence from this," Lyons said. "The quality was there in the second half to take advantage of those opportunities. We've talked a lot about execution and the guys were able to execute tonight. It was really nice to get those three goals."
The Eagles are the number eight seed and will travel to Wingate, N.C. to face off with the top-seeded Wingate Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m
