BOONE, N.C. – Carson-Newman freshman goalkeeper Jessica Fraiture (Hebron, Ky.) recorded her first-ever clean sheet as the Eagles (7-1) knocked off the Lees-McRae Bobcats (2-6) 3-0 at Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex on the campus of Appalachian State University.
Fraiture recorded nine saves and held the Bobcats scoreless in 90 minutes in front of goal. Freshman Varin Ness (Sogndal, Norway) tallied her second multi-goal game in eight days with strikes in the first and second half.
Carson-Newman last held a time without a goal on Sept. 17th, 2014 when the King Tornado left McCown Field without a goal. The Eagles are currently riding a five-game win streak, which is the longest such streak since 2010 when C-N won eight-consecutive contests.
"It was a rough game, but the girls were still able to come away with the win. We had lots to take away from this game as we look to play Anderson," assistant coach Sarah Tompkins said.
Ness opened the scoring in the 22nd-minute with a goal off a corner kick. Ness was the kick-taker and bent her shot off the far post into the net to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead at the halftime break.
Ness struck again in the 68th-minute with a powerful shot from 28-yards out of the box to make the score line 2-0. Sophomore Camilla Olsson (Trondheim, Norway) laid a pass to Ness who sent a thunderous strike into the upper-right corner of the net. Ness also scored two goals last Wednesday against Mars Hill and the Norwegian has six goals on the year to lead the team.
Freshman Gabriela Dias (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) scored her first-career goal in the 87th-minute to finish the scoring and give the Eagles a 3-0 win. Lees-McRae's goalkeeper Alexis Feely bobbled the ball and Dias was there to knock home the mishap for career goal number one for the Brazilian.
The Eagles outshot Lees-McRae 26 to 11 with C-N tallying 13 shots in each half. Junior Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland) led the team with six shots, while seniors Mikayla Gregg (Newport, Tenn.) and Nikki McWilliams (Saintfield, Northern Ireland) and junior Gabrielle Gianeselli (Knoxville, Tenn.) each recorded three attempts. Mallory Overholt and Sarah Mahar led the Bobcats with three shots.
Gregg and Gianeselli both made their first starts of the season for C-N. A freshman has now scored in six of the eight games the Eagles have played; the Eagles have scored first in seven of the eight games in 2015.
Carson-Newman has now won two-straight matches over Lees-McRae and five of the last six contests; the series record now sits at 6-7 in favor of the Bobcats.
The Eagles stay on the road and travel to face the South Atlantic Conference's third-place team, the Anderson (S.C.) Trojans, on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Trojan Stadium in Anderson.
