HICKORY, N.C. – Fifth-seeded Carson-Newman (4-2, 4-2) began the quest for a SAC Tournament title as they were on the road against the fourth seed Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (6-1-1, 4-1-1 SAC) from the Moretz Sports Complex Monday night.
"I thought the team competed today for 90 minutes," Carson-Newman coach Simon Duffy said. "We really put in a shift and ended up losing to an excellent team. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be for us today. I'm excited with the team we have coming back in the fall and the new additions we have coming in. The future looks bright, and the fall can't come soon enough."
Through the first 15 minutes of action, Carson-Newman was tested early as the Bears got off two shots, both on goal. The action continued to be consistent for the host L-R as they fired off a total of three shots before defender Ria Acton notched her sixth goal on the year to give L-R an early 1-0 lead 20 minutes into the game. This tied Acton with C-N senior Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.) for the SAC lead category with six.
Duffy's squad kept their offensive prowess at the halftime break as they led in shots 7-4 with five shots on goal. However, L-R was 100% accurate, with all four shot attempts falling on goal against freshman goalkeeper Lilly Ebner (Hohentengen, Germany). This marked the second time in 2021 when C-N entered the locker room at half trailing, with the other time being against Lincoln Memorial on March 30.
The second half started the same for no. 4 seeded Eagles as they found a couple of shot attempts to fall their way but could not push across the equalizer and stayed behind 1-0. Lenoir-Rhyne kept the pressure from the first half on against C-N as they had a sleuth of quality attempts against the C-N defense, but Ebner kept the score 1-0 apiece through 60 minutes of action.
Futrell gave C-N its highest quality shot for the second half in the 65th minute as she was on the receiving end of a cross but could not head in a goal as her attempt went right over the crossbar and the hands of LR goal-minder Grayson Cameron.
In the 72nd minute, freshman Marta De Zanger (Barcelona, Spain) had a clear chance at goal but could not fire past Cameron and handed the LR goal-minder her sixth goal in the game. Then, it was sophomore Addie Henry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) who held a chance to knot the score with a free-kick from right outside the box. The Bears defense blocked Henry's shot attempt, and C-N continued their pursuit to find a goal.
In the second half, C-N kept trying to push the pressure onto the Bears defense as they fired shot after shot in hopes of finding the crucial equalizer and played like a team that was soon to be removed from postseason contention with the final result looming. C-N put together six more shots in the final 45, with a total of seven on goal. Cameron recorded a total of XX saves and held C-N off the board to record her seventh win in 2021.
Despite a continued push into the later stages of the second half, destiny would have written another way for C-N. C-N moves to 4-5-1 against L-R when matched up in the SAC tourney as LR moves to 22-13-4 all-time against C-N.
Coming into the quarterfinal contest, C-N was 3-9-1 when conceding the first goal and 25-5 when outshooting the opponent.
Just like the last time C-N made the SAC tournament in 2019, they cannot reach the finals, which has only happened twice since 2014. Monday's result also results in the series lead growing in favor of L-R to 22-13-4.
At the end of the regular season, C-N finishes with an overall record of 4-3, including two season sweeps over the Tusculum Pioneers and Mars Hill Lions while suffering a season sweep LMU Railsplitters. The Eagles will have four seniors (Futrell, Kristina Markfort, Kate Zander, and Madison Huffstetler) returning in the fall to continue their Eagles career. Notably, Futrell sits eighth in program history for career goals as she finished 2021 with 6 goals to move her career total to 33, one behind former C-N assistant Jules Herrity who has 34.
C-N will now head into the offseason, while Duffy will look to get his squad ready for next season and the arrival of three recruits.
