JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Following a quick and competitive two game road trip, Carson-Newman women's soccer (1-1-1, 0-0 SAC) return home to McCown Field for a Saturday matinee. The Eagles will do battle against the visiting Trevecca Nazarene Trojans (0-2, 0-0 G-MAC) from McCown Field with kickoff slated for 3:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
"I think Wednesday against Belmont Abbey was a pure response to our performance against Young Harris. I've said this countless times before, but we have a lot of talent on this team from top to bottom and at every position," head coach Simon Duffy said. "To have players like Carina Wust and Abbie Zander coming off the bench for us against Belmont Abbey was crucial. They changed the game for us and kept us ahead at all costs. We often tell players to make a difference when coming off the bench and change the game, and that's exactly what those two did for us in the win."
Carson-Newman (1-1-1) kept up their offensive firepower on Wednesday, as they rattled off 29 shot attempts en route to a 2-1 victory Wednesday and a valuable three points in the early stages of the season. In Wednesday's contest, it was junior Addie Henry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) who opened up the scoring for C-N before sophomore Abbie Zander (Baneberry, Tenn.) doubled the lead in the 36th minute off senior Jente Kuper (Ottersberg, Germany)'s second assist of the contest. The Eagles were led by Zander who fired off five shots and had four fall on frame as part of the 29-7 shot margin over the Crusaders. So far this season, C-N is outshooting opponents 70-25 and averages 23.3 shots per game.
Since head coach Simon Duffy took over in 2017, the Eagles are 21-5-1 on the road and have outscored opponents 71-20 in that span as well. Meanwhile, when playing in the friendly confines of McCown Field, the Eagles are 25-6-2 under Duffy and have outscored opponents 89-28 at home since 2017.
The series between Carson-Newman and Trevecca Nazarene goes back to 2012, as the two programs met every year from 2012 to 2016 but have not met since. In the first matchup of Eagles and Trojans, neither side could push ahead as it ended in a 0-0 tie.
However, the 2013 matchup saw the most goals scored in a game in the entire series history as Trevecca Nazarene notched the 3-2 victory and took the 1-0 series lead. The Trojans went on to win the next matchup as well in 2014 before C-N rattled off two straight victories in 2015 and 2016 to level the series at 2-2-1 all-time.
"Yeah, we will look at the film and get ready for positional matchups and structure, but we just have to be a better version of ourselves. If we can go out there and compete at our best level, our preparation will be successful," Duffy said. "Yes, we need to still be ready for any opponent but the core of us is to be the best version of what we know we can do in any game."
The last time the Eagles and Trojans faced off in Mossy Creek was 2015 when C-N took a 2-1 victory. In that contest, Camilla Olsson opened up the scoring in the 11th minute for the Eagles before Diana Corzine leveled it at one apiece after her 36th minute goal off a cross. However, C-N was able to get the last laugh as Holly Talbut-Smith received an assist from Olsson in the 86th minute and pushed the ball into the back of the net to claim the 2-1 victory for Carson-Newman.
Overall, the Eagles are 1-1 when playing Trevecca Nazarene at home.
Trevecca Nazarene is one of two current Great Midwest Athletic Conference members who have squared off with the Eagles. The only other conference member was the Ohio Dominican Panthers who took the lone matchup with C-N in 2015 by a score of 2-1.
In the last full season for the Trojans, they finished 7-9-3 including a 0-3-3 mark in non-conference action. Fourth-year head coach, Kelsey Fenix Cameron has led the program since the 2017 season as well. In her time at the helm, she has collected 35 career wins, which is third best in program history.
Prior to arriving at Trevecca, Fenix Cameron assisted at Lipscomb University. While coaching with Kevin O'Brien at Lipscomb University, Fenix Cameron assisted the Bisons with historic results.
The 2013 team reached the ASUN Conference Tournament for the first time. The team has reached the tournament in each of the last four years now, making the ASUN Finals in each of the last two years while collecting a total of 24 wins in that span.
The Trojans also see a load of talent returning for the 2021 season. The 35-member team is made up of fourteen upperclassmen with 11 sophomores and six freshmen for Trevecca Nazarene. Abbigail Legg and Danyel Joy led the way for the Trojans as Legg led the team in goals with four and Joy collected four assists during the shortened spring season.
The Trojans return Delayna Holman in goal after she started and saw action in all 11 contests during the spring. In the shortened campaign, the junior made 52 saves and allowed 15 goals throughout all contests. She finished with a 4-5-2 record and a save percentage of 0.776%
"We're excited to be back home and playing at McCown Field. The players love it, us coaches are happy to be back at home, but we still want to challenge ourselves," Duffy said. "I said it prior to the season start that we want to challenge ourselves every match that we have and it's amazing to be creating all the chances we have thus far, but hopefully we can continue that and add some goals to our tally as the season goes along."
Saturday's matinee is set for a 3:00 p.m. kickoff from McCown Field between the Eagles and Trojans. Fans can tune into the game via cneagles.com/live and follow live in-game updates on Twitter at @CN_Eagles.
