VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Playing in its fourth game in the past seven days, Carson-Newman (1-3-3, 0-1-1 SAC) dropped its South Atlantic Conference home opener to Coker (4-1, 1-1 SAC) on Saturday afternoon at McCown Field.
"A lot of what happened today is probably on me and the scheduling," Carson-Newman men's soccer coach Stephen Lyons said. "I think it showed. Coker is a very good team and deserved to win. But, you could tell we were tired from the three games this week. Thought we did well to keep it scoreless at halftime. Changed a few things to get that first goal, but to concede so quickly after kind of deflated the group, understandably, and we weren't able to pick back up and find the energy that we needed."
It took both offenses some time to get going. The game's first shot didn't come until eleven minutes in. Coker took the first three shots of the game, the third that was saved by Federico Simonetti (Crema, Italy) in the 18th minute.
Carson-Newman's only chance in the opening half came off a quality crossed ball into the box. Dan Coles won the header but missed high in the 24th minute.
Simonetti made a second save later in the half. Yvan Malarte fired at the keeper who kept it scoreless just two minutes after C-N's chance.
The two sides combined for just one shot in the final 19 minutes of the opening half.
After Coker took the first six shots after halftime, the Eagles took advantage of a counterattack. Thomas Lachapelle dribbled his way around the Coker goalkeeper who came out of his six-yard box, and the forward slotted a left-footed shot across the front of goal to starting the scoring in the 54th minute.
Unfortunately for Carson-Newman, that would be all Coker needed to get rolling offensively. After failing to score in its first 12 shots, Vitalis Takawira changed that less than 90 seconds after C-N scored. His shot from the right side of the box banged off the right posted and deflected in to tie the game.
Simonetti and the Eagles defense would be tested often over the next ten minutes. After scoring the first goal, Takawira went back to work forcing Simonetti to make two saves in a two-minute stretch, while also seeing a shot hit off the crossbar.
Takawira's relentless attack paid off in thee 66th minute, as he dribbled into the box and scored his second goal to give Coker the lead.
The Cobras would not relinquish that lead, scoring two more times. Takawira assisted on Oskar Kaufmann's goal in the 75th minute to make it 3-1 and the duo connected on a second goal six minutes later.
Carson-Newman continued its fight and it paid off with Lachapelle scoring his second goal. Antoine Torrent played a fine ball behind the defense that LaChapelle finished to make it a 4-2 game in the 87th minute.
LaChapelle's first two career goals make him the second player this season to score multiple goals in a game, joining Mitchell Honcoop who scored twice in the season opener against Trevecca Nazarene.
In Simonetti's return as the starting goalkeeper, the graduate student saw 12 shots come his way, making a season-high eight saves. Coker outshot C-N 23-5 in the match.
The Eagles get a much-needed week off, returning to McCown Field next Saturday against Newberry. First touch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. A live stream of the game is available with a subscription to FloSports.
Fans can also follow along by following @CN_Eagles on X (Twitter) and Instagram for in-game updates.
