VIDEO: Emilee Futrell Interview
Box Score
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -- A fast-paced offensive attack to begin the second half, led by a brace scored by junior Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.), hoisted the Carson-Newman Eagles past the Belmont Abbey Crusaders Wednesday evening 3-0.
"In the second half we really put our foot down and scored a few goals and kept a clean sheet," said Eagles head coach Simon Duffy. "We were able to rotate a lot of players in. That's against a very good Conference Carolinas side in Belmont Abbey."
Kick off from McCown Field began with the Eagles finding 10 of the first 12 shots in the contest through the first half-hour of play. Continuing momentum, C-N took two of the last three corner kicks to close out the opening 45 minutes before halftime.
Quickly following the intermission in the 53rd minute, Futrell connected on her first goal of the season after a looping pop up from freshman Makayla Garner (Fort Mill, S.C.) set up Futrell for a header past the Crusaders goalie Lauryn Harding from eight yards out. The helping boot was also Garner's first career assist as an Eagle.
Futrell wasn't satisfied with one, however. 10 minutes after her first goal on the campaign came her second – a chip-in shot to the left side of the goal following a nifty dish from defense Kristina Markfort (Munster, Germany).
Her two goals on the evening begin to keep up with her pace from 2018 where she scored nine goals as a sophomore. Despite ranking second on the team in shots (14) and shots on goal (9) for the season, Futrell hadn't seen the back of the net until tonight. With the scoreless spell in the back mirror, the junior can focus on maintaining her goal-scoring form.
"Just as like a building block, really," Futrell said. "Not scoring many goals previously from the forwards (as a whole), taking this and hopefully the next couple of games continuing to build on it. Get more goal scorers from the top line and just keep on going."
Following in Futrell's footsteps was sophomore forward Elena Propst (Maiden, N.C.), who continued the flurry of offensive production in the 66th minute when a shot from the right-side wing bounced off the mitts of Harding and into the back of the mesh for C-N.
This is the second-straight contest that the Eagles have registered more than 20 shots in total and 10 shots on goal. It is also the second shutout in as many games for goalie Jasmine Rizk (Andersonville, Tenn.).
Belmont Abbey failed to score for just the second time this season. The Eagles held the Crusaders to just four shots on goal, which is the second-lowest mark for C-N defensively this year.
With a five-game homestand complete, Carson-Newman will travel to Anderson in a SAC showdown Saturday at 5 p.m.
