JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (3-7-3, 2-5-1 SAC) will try to ride the momentum it built on Wednesday into Saturday afternoon's home regular season finale versus Wingate (5-5-1, 3-5 SAC) at 2:30 p.m. from McCown Field.
Tomorrow afternoon's affair will have plenty of postseason implications on the line. Currently, Wingate is tied with Anderson for eighth place in the South Atlantic Conference standings with nine points. Carson-Newman sits in a tie for 10th place with Newberry, both of whom have seven points. An Eagles win would allow Stephen Lyons' crew to leap frog Wingate in the conference standings. Only the top eight teams qualify for the South Atlantic Conference tournament.
Carson-Newman closes its home regular season slate at McCown Field Saturday afternoon, a place where the Eagles have gone 2-3-2 this season. They are coming off one of the program's more impressive wins, scoring eight times in a shutout win versus Newberry on Wednesday. The eight-goal effort was the most goals scored by C-N in a game since 2007, when it scored nine versus Cumberland (TN). It was the sixth-most goals in a game in school history.
Ben Dukes and Mitchell Honcoop lead the offensive attack with a team-high four goals each this season. Thanks to Wednesday's effort, C-N averages 1.77 goals per match, the fourth-highest mark in the SAC. Carson-Newman's 23 goals, 21 assists for 67 points, all rank fourth in the league as well.
Dukes recorded Carson-Newman's first hat trick since 2021 in Wednesday 8-0 win. It was the 20th occasion in which an Eagle scored three goals or more. His hat trick was complete in just 20 minutes and 15 seconds, the third fastest hat trick in the past 15 years and the fourth hat trick that has happened all in one half.
The Eagles have their most success when getting off to good starts. Lyons' group has led at halftime in four matches and is 3-0-1. When scoring the first goal, C-N is 3-2-2 and has only lost five times in the past seven seasons when scoring the opening goal.
Carson-Newman is winless in its last three meetings with Wingate. C-N made two trips to Wingate this past season, losing 3-1 in the regular season and 1-0 to the top-seeded Bulldogs in the opening round of the SAC tournament. In C-N's past four home games versus Wingate, it has gone 0-2-2, with its last win coming in 2015 at McCown Field in this series.
Picked to finish second in the South Atlantic Conference preseason coaches' poll, the Bulldogs have failed to live up to that hype, going 5-5-1 and 3-5 in the league as we near the end of October. WU was rolling early in the year, winning three of its first four games, highlighted by a neutral site win versus #3 Florida Tech on Sept 8. It ended a strong September with a 4-1-1 record, with the lone blemish coming to #11 Limestone.
The month changed to October, and it has not favored the Bulldogs, who have won just one of their last five contests. The one win this month was a 2-1 home win versus Mars Hill. Wingate heads into this matchup having lost three straight games to Anderson, Catawba and Newberry, getting outscored 5-1.
Statically, Pablo Pozos has been one of the best attackers in the South Atlantic Conference this season. His six goals rank fifth in the league, while his 48 shots rank second. Pozos has taken 48 of his team's 136 shots (35%). Fabio Rodigues is the only other player with double-digit shots, and he has 14. Pozos has six of the team's 13 goals this season. The ninth best offense in the SAC only has seven assists as well.
The defense has been stout for Gary Hamill's squad, which has put together three shutouts this season and has allowed one goal or less in seven of the team's 11 games. Moritz Conrad has ranks second among goalkeepers with six or more starts in save percentage, which is at .800. He ranks fifth in saves (36) and goals against average at 0.90.
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.
