Carson-Newman v Ohio Dominican Game Link
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman women's soccer team will be looking for the program's first 3-0 start since 2009 as it welcomes the Ohio Dominican Panthers from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to McCown Field for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday night.
The Eagles picked up wins over Trevecca Nazarene and Alabama-Huntsville last Thursday and Saturday, while the 0-2 Panthers dropped a 4-0 decision at Roberts Wesleyan last Saturday and a 1-0 contest Wednesday night at Bellarmine.
"They are a fantastic team. There is no doubt about it. We have to respect these guys; they took on Bellarmine in the midweek and they are 18th in the country right now. They have a massive squad they love to rotate," coach Richard Moodie said. "For us, we need to make sure our Starting XI is up to the task of competing with theirs. Of course, when the players come off the bench, which inevitably they will based on the last few games, we need to make sure we have the opportunity to rotate players and us still be able to compete at that level."
In the first two games of the season, Carson-Newman is outshooting its opponents 46 to 13. Twenty-four of the Eagles' 46 shots have been on frame, while the opponents have nine combined shots on goal in 180 minutes of action. C-N has now outshot eight of its last 10 opponents dating back to the middle of the 2014 season; in that span, the Eagles have outshot their opponents 165 to 69. Freshman Holly Talbut-Smith leads the team with nine shots and she is tied for 11th in the league in that statistic.
Carson-Newman is playing its first opponent from the GLIAC since 1998 when the Eagles knocked off the Hillsdale Chargers 5-0, which is also the only time C-N has faced a GLIAC opponent.
Ohio Dominican are coming a season where the Panthers went 15-5-1 and advanced to the GLIAC Tournament Championship game and also appeared in the NCAA Tournament. ODU lost in the conference title game to eventual national championships Grand Valley State. Ohio Dominican fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Saginaw Valley 1-0.
The Panthers return leading scorer Ashley Blake for her sophomore campaign after tallying 10 goals and five assists in an impressive freshman year at forward. Fellow sophomore striker Allison Pavlik added 11 points with four goals and three assists last year. In goal, Marissa Wiezbicki has appeared in both of the Panthers' games and has allowed three goals.
"You need a team like Ohio Dominican on your schedule to kind of benchmark your ability and see truthfully where we are," Moodie said. "We are a team that won three games, so for Ohio Dominican, I'm sure they are thinking this will be an easier game and for us, truthfully, we are going to come in with a mentality that is a test, this is a challenge. We are going to see where we actually are."
Ohio Dominican has yet to score a goal in 2015, but tallied 41 goals during the 2014 campaign. On the other side, Carson-Newman has only allowed two goals thus far into the season with freshman keeper Jessica Fraiture (Hebron, Ky.) making six saves. One of her goals was a fluke goal scored by Trevecca Nazarene after the ball deflected off the post on a cross and was knocked into the goal and the other goal was a penalty kick against Huntsville.
"We are very confident in our players' ability. We are very confident in our coaching staff's ability to prepare these kids for the challenge ahead," Moodie said. "Defensively, with Jessica in the back, she's young, she's learning, she's growing, so mature for her age and she's always listening, always retaining information and she's likes the challenge."
Carson-Newman and Ohio Dominican kick off at 7 p.m. Friday night on the Eagles Sports Network with Eric Cain on the call. A full recap featuring a post-match video with Moodie will be available on cneagles.com.
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