VIDEO: Richard Moodie Interview
VIDEO: Holly Talbut-Smith Interview
VIDEO: Highlights
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn – Holly Talbut-Smith (Crawley, England) registered her sixth goal of the season and added her eighth assist to lead the Carson-Newman women's soccer team to a 3-0 shutout of the King Tornado at McCown Field on Wednesday night.
The Eagles have now won two-in-a-row and are 9-2 this season, while their conference record remains at 4-1. King falls to 3-7.
"Great result," Soccer Coach Richard Moodie said. "We did what we had to do. We were comfortable. We never got into panic mode at any point. We were able to rotate players and freshen up legs for the girls that came off the bench. Now we can go into Saturday a little bit rested."
For the second straight game, Alex Brandan (Knoxville, Tenn.) got Carson-Newman on the scoreboard. In the ninth minute, Talbut-Smith crossed a ball into the box from the left side and Brandan flicked it past the keeper for her second goal this year.
After taking the lead, C-N's defense took over the rest of the half, putting the clamps on the King offense. The Tornado managed just four shots during the first half and goalkeeper Jacqueline Burns (Cookstown, Northern Ireland) made short work of the one ball that was put on net. Both teams headed into halftime with the score frozen at 1-0.
Talbut-Smith added to her team's total in the 50th minute when a pass from Ashley Hickman (Knoxville, Tenn.) found her in the box and she converted by lofting a shot over Olivia Drake and into the net to make the score 2-0. For Hickman, the assist was her first point in a C-N uniform and the goal put the Eagles in the driver's seat for the remainder of the match.
Hannah Henry (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) tacked on the night's final score in the 89th minute, her fourth this season. A cross from Lindsey Williams (Wilmington, N.C.) came to Allie-Anne Blackburn (Franklin, Tenn.) near the six-yard box, who flicked it on to Henry, and the sophomore found twine with her shot.
In the second half, the Carson-Newman defense was even better than it had been in the first 45 minutes. They completely shut down King's offense, limiting them to only two shots, neither of which was on goal. C-N ended the night with a 25-6 advantage in shots and a 10-1 edge in shots on goal. The Tornado went without a shot for the last 35 minutes of the match.
On Saturday, Carson-Newman plays probably it's biggest game of the year to this point, as they host the team at the top of the league table, Catawba. The Catawba Indians are undefeated in the SAC at 5-0. The contest is scheduled to begin at 1pm and will be broadcast live on cneagles.com/live with Mark Inserra calling all the action. Live stats will also be available and the game recap will be posted on cneagles.com after the final whistle.
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