VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Tim Haans (Tilburg, Netherlands) and Antoine Torrent (Clermont ferrand, France) scored their first career goals, while Paul Moser recorded a career-high six saves to help Carson-Newman (1-2-2) to a 2-0 victory over RV West Alabama (2-1-1) on Monday evening at McCown Field.
"Tonight was huge," Carson-Newman men's soccer head coach Stephen Lyons said. "We've played well in spells in the other games, but today was almost a complete performance as we could've asked for. I thought for the majority of the game we were the better team. Both teams obviously had some great chances. The big thing today was keeping the clean sheet and then the work rate and energy and aptitude was on point. Hopefully we can keep that going through this tough stretch of games, but the guys should take a lot of confidence from tonight and look to build on it."
Carson-Newman has now won all three meetings all-time against the Tigers and has outscored them 6-1.
West Alabama had more of the chances early on in the opening half. The Tigers took four of the game's first five shots. The best opportunity came in the 17th minute off the foot of Joe Wright. The midfielder's shot from outside the box was hooking and drilled the left post and UWA was unable to do anything after the initial shot.
Carson-Newman began to create some chances of its own as the half continued on. Maxime Wester (Brussel, Belgium) raced up the sideline and played a ball into the box where Thomas Lachapelle had a one on one opportunity with the goalkeeper, but Timon Dressel won the battle deflecting it out.
Shortly after, C-N took advantage of a turnover. Rhydian Williams came up with possession and flicked the ball forward for Antoine Torrent. The freshman took advantage of the chance and made the most of it. He booted the shot over the goalkeeper's head and into the back of the net for his first career goal, to make it 1-0 C-N in the 35th minute.
ANTOINE TORRENT ‼️ YOU BEAUTY
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) September 16, 2024
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The Eagles defense remained stiff for the rest of the opening half. Paul Moser (Vienna, Austria) made two more saves in the final three minutes and C-N led at intermission for the second time this season.
West Alabama wasted no time taking chances early into the second half. David Nunez and Ellis Williamson took early shots, Nunez's which forced Moser to make his fourth save.
Moser made a huge save in the 56th minute. Wright tried again from distance, but Moser made another fabulous stop to keep Carson-Newman in front.
C-N would get a much needed insurance goal in the 68th minute. After a corner kick from Mitchell Honcoop (Nieuw-Vennep, Netherlands), the ball was deflected out by Torrent, to the feet of Tim Haans. The sophomore created space and sent a shot through the UWA defense and past the keeper for his first career goal to increase the lead to 2-0.
��️ PLAY THE GOAL HORN FOR TIM HAANS
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) September 16, 2024
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Carson-Newman continued to rack up shots in the second half, but was unable to strike again. In the final minutes, Moser stepped up again. In the 87th minute, Silas Schelinkski had a chance near the six-yard box but the graduate student made his sixth and final stop to hold on for C-N's first shutout of the season and the first for Moser.
"I thought Paul was brilliant," Lyons said. "The defensive group was excellent as well. Paul seemed to grow into the game with his confidence, which is huge for a goalkeeper, not only with the saves but his decision making with his distributions. He managed the game well, and had a fantastic night."
After getting outshot 11-4 in the opening half, C-N responded by recording 16 second-half shots compared to UWA's seven. C-N outshot West Alabama 20-18, season-highs in shots for both teams.
Under Lyons, Carson-Newman improves its record to 51-3-8 when scoring two goals or more.
Carson-Newman continues its four-game homestand with a non-conference matchup versus nationally ranked Auburn Montgomery on Thursday afternoon. The Eagles and the Warhawks have met twice in the last two seasons. The match is set for a 1:00 p.m. start and will be streamed via FloSports ($). Fans can also follow along to @CN_Eagles on X (Twitter) and Instagram for in-game updates.
