GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – The 15th-ranked Carson-Newman women's soccer team (14-2, 9-1 SAC) snapped a five-match losing streak to the Tusculum Pioneers (9-7-1, 5-4-1 SAC) with a 4-2 win at Pioneer Field on Tuesday night as the Eagles move within a win of securing the South Atlantic Conference regular season championship.
The Eagles now sit atop the SAC table with 27 points and lead Wingate who owns 25 points, while the Pioneers remain in sixth. Carson-Newman's extended its win streak to seven games, the longest for the Eagles since the program ended the regular season with eight-straight wins.
C-N scored two goals in the first 10 minutes of play and then struck twice in the first 16 minutes of second half play for the four goals.
"The girls came out flying today. I'm very proud of how well they played tonight," assistant coach Sarah Tompkins said. "We were able to capitalize on good opportunities and come out with a great win."
Carson-Newman struck early in the contest in the fifth-minute. Senior Nikki McWilliams (Saintfield, Northern Ireland) drove into the left side of the box and sent a pass to freshman Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England), who was knocked off the ball from behind. After appeals for a penalty were denied, the ball was out of the box to junior Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland) who sent a shot towards goalkeeper Miriah Martin. Martin deflected the shot, but the ball rolled into the net for Herrity's 12th goal of the season.
Seventy-nine seconds later, the Eagles found the back of the net again. Freshman Averi Williams (Powell, Tenn.) took a shot that was destined for the back of the net but saved off the line by Martin, but she allowed a rebound. Freshman defender Alex Brandan (Knoxville, Tenn.) bounced on the rebound and put a shot in the net for her first-career goal.
Three minutes into the second half, McWilliams tallied her seventh-goal of the season. McWilliams caused a turnover from a Tusculum defender at the top of the box and took an immediate shot from 19-yards out that beat Martin and tickled the twine for a 3-0 Carson-Newman lead.
Tusculum scored in the 51st-minute to snap goalkeeper Jessica Fraiture's shutout-streak at 409 minutes. The Pioneers' Katja Andersson scored her sixth-goal of the season with a shot from just beyond the box that weaved through traffic to the left side of the net to cut the Eagles' advantage to 3-1.
Williams was the second Eagle to score her first-collegiate goal in the game in the 61st-minute. The freshman sent a long ball into the box from near the midline that bounced over Tusculum goalkeeper Hannah Graham from 10-yards out into the net for the 4-1 lead.
Tusculum struck in the 88th-minute with a goal from Emma MacDonald. Gabrielle Whitt laid a ball off to MacDonald who took a shot from 11-yards out and beat Fraiture to her left to cap the scoring at 4-2.
The Eagles outshot the Pioneers 22-10 with 17 of C-N's 22 shots landing on frame. The 17 shots on frame are the most for the Eagles this season and the most in a contest since landing 18 attempts on net on Oct. 16th, 2013 against Milligan.
Fraiture's 409-minute scoreless streak was the fourth-longest stretch in Carson-Newman history, trailing just stretches in 1995, 2007 and 2009. Tusculum's two goals are the most an opponent has scored against Carson-Newman since Anderson (S.C.) tallied twice on Oct. 3rd.
The Eagles four goals against Tusculum are the most for Carson-Newman against its rival since scoring four times in 1996; the six goals tallied in the 1995 contest are the most the Orange and Blue are scored against the Pioneers.
The win secures C-N at least home contest during the SAC Tournament quarterfinals that will be played next week.
The Eagles conclude the regular season with a match on Saturday at 2 p.m. against the Coker Cobras as C-N will look to secure its first outright conference title since 2009.
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