EMORY, Va. – Three different players scored a goal as Carson-Newman (2-3-3, 1-1-1 SAC) won its first South Atlantic Conference game and road game of the 2024 season on Wednesday evening defeating Emory & Henry (0-5-1, 0-3 SAC) 3-0 at Fred Selfe Stadium.
"Will take the win tonight," Carson-Newman men's soccer head coach Stephen Lyons said. "I thought our performance could have been much better, but the lads responded in the second half and we probably should have scored one or two more. Obviously, really pleased with the clean sheet. Also, good to have three different players on the scoresheet."
The win improves Carson-Newman's point total in the SAC standings to four. It also serves as the Eagles' first road win of the season, improving their road mark to 1-2-1.
C-N has now won all three meetings against the Wasps and has outscored them 9-2, scoring three goals in each win.
Isaac Pascal scored C-N's first goal and assisted on the second to double his career output in both categories. He entered the match with just one career goal and one career assist.
Maintaining a lot of the possession to start the game, it resulted chances early. Just two minutes in, Thomas Lachapelle sent a shot on goal that forced E&H goalkeeper Emilio Hernandez-Araujo to make his first save of the game.
C-N would make the most of its next opportunity. Maxime Wester's (Brussel, Belgium) cross toward the top of the box was headed up into the air by a defender. Isaac Pascal never let the ball hit the ground and volleyed it into the bottom right corner of goal to give Carson-Newman the 1-0 advantage in the 14th minute.
GOALLLL!!!! Isaac Pascal starts the scoring with his second goal of the season��
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) October 2, 2024
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Tim Haans (Tilburg, Netherlands) and Mitchell Honcoop (Nieuw-Vennep, Netherlands) both took shots in the next minutes but were unable to score with those chances.
The next 23 minutes of play did not see either side take a shot, with Carson-Newman gaining most of the possession. The Eagles did manage two corner kicks during this first half stretch but could not get a clean look at goal. The fifth and final shot of the half was taken from Ben Dukes (Southampton, England) just outside the box, missing wide left.
Lyons' team held E&H without a shot in the first half. It's the first time this season that C-N has not let its opponent take a shot in a half of soccer.
The Eagles came out firing to start the second half. Just under 90 seconds into the half, Antoine Torrent (Clermont ferrand, France) had his first shot of the evening saved by Hernandez-Araujo. Two minutes later, Torrent came up with a turnover dishing a pass off to Lachapelle whose second shot of the evening was saved again.
Off its second corner kick of the half, Jakob Lechner's header toward goal was saved in the 51st minute. Carson-Newman took four shots and had two corners in the first six minutes of the second half.
The effort forward would pay off on a takeaway. Honcoop sent a perfect ball behind the E&H defense that Pascal tracked down. The junior slotted a pass to Rhydian Williams (Llannerfydd, Conwy, Wales) who flicked it past Hernandez-Araujo to give Carson-Newman insurance in the 60th minute. The goal for Williams is his first this season and second of his C-N career.
LOOK AT THE PASSING! First of the year for Rhydian Williams��
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) October 2, 2024
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E&H's first and best opportunity to score in the game came in the 66th minute. Honcoop was forced to trek back defensively and committed a foul to limit a 1v1 opportunity for the Wasps. The foul forced a free kick from the top of the box. Gabe Franco had his free kick opportunity saved by Federico Simonetti (Crema, Italy) which kept the clean sheet intact.
The Eagles would extend the lead again in the 70th minute. Dribbling from 35 yards away, Torrent worked his way toward the top of the box where he ricocheted a shot off an E&H defender and into the bottom left corner. It was the freshman's second goal of the season.
LOOK AT THE FRESHMAN WORK!
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) October 2, 2024
Second career goal for Antoine Torrent extends the Carson-Newman lead
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Trailing by three goals, the Wasps were desperate for an answer. Beron de Astrada Aquino sent E&H's second shot right into the mitts of Simonetti who made his second and final save of the evening in the 74th minute.
It's the second straight game that Carson-Newman has scored multiple goals, and fifth time it has occurred this season.
C-N outshot E&H 19-2 and 12-2 on goal. It's the second-most shots in a game for the Eagles this season, while allowing the fewest shots in a game this season with just two. It matches the lowest number of shots by an opponent since Mars Hill had just two against C-N on March 3rd, 2021.
The shutout is Carson-Newman's third this season, all of which have come in the last four matches. For Simonetti, it is his third career shutout and first of the season.
Hernandez-Araujo made nine saves in a losing effort.
Carson-Newman is back on the pitch on Sunday when it travels to Gaffney, South Carolina for a road contest against #5 Limestone. First touch is set for 4:00 p.m. A live stream of the game is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/flomsoc.
Fans can also follow along by following @CN_Eagles on X (Twitter) and Instagram for in-game updates.
