JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After starting with two straight SAC wins in 2021, Carson-Newman women's soccer will look to keep their early momentum rolling as they welcome the Catawba College Catawba Indians (5-0-1, 1-0 SAC) in for a Saturday night battle. The Eagles and Indians will kick off from McCown Field on Saturday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m.
In the season history against the Indians, it has been a little bit of back-and-forth as neither team has totally ran away with the advantage, but Catawba currently leads the history 19-17-5. However, in the last five matchups, the advantage goes to the Eagles as they have won four out of the last five as the latest matchup between these two ending in a tie during the 2019 season.
"We're welcoming in a really talented team as they are flying around and scoring a lot of goals now. Hopefully we're ready to compete and it should be a good one," head coach Simon Duffy said. "They're a good team from front to back and are well-coached. We saw what we can do after the second half against Wingate. We just need to make sure we are putting the ball into the back of the net."
Duffy and the Eagles will look to continue their hot start in SAC play as they currently ride a two-match winning streak after defeating the Mars Hill Lions on Sept. 15 before besting the Wingate Bulldogs on Sept. 18 last week. It was a tale of two matches for C-N last week as they were purely dominate against the Lions, winning 2-0 after holding the Lions shotless until the 80th minute of action. With the win, the Eagles have now won 16 straight over the Lions and have never lost to their SAC foe when playing at McCown Field.
Saturday was quite a different tale for the Eagles as they were able to squeak out the OT win in a thriller in a closely contested match. The first half from Wingate saw the Eagles be outshot 17-1, marking the first time this has happened for a Duffy-led squad since the spring season when Lincoln Memorial held the 17-12 shot advantage. The game ended with Wingate outshooting C-N 25-10. In games where the Eagles have been outshot, they are now 2-4-1 in recent history.
One of the game-changing points in Saturday's match was when graduate student Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.) was shown a straight red card in the 73rd minute after battling back-and-forth with a Bulldog. Duffy noted the team's effort after losing a player like Futrell when he noted "the girls stepped up and kept fighting till the end. Once it came time for overtime, we knew we could win it if we got the chance and it came for us with Addie stepping up."
Overtime was needed to decide the result on Saturday, as the Eagles were awarded a penalty kick for the first time since the March 18th meeting with Lincoln Memorial in the spring. The result was different this time around as junior Addie Henry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) stepped up to the spot and buried the attempt, giving C-N the valuable three points. With her penalty attempt going in, Henry became the first Eagle to make a penalty since Magda Mosengo achieved the feat in November of 2018.
"We've talked about keeping clean sheets and defending well in order to get where we want to be," Duffy said. "Catawba plays a different formation than they have in the last couple years. If we come out and play, we need to keep them quiet and it's important for us to cause them problems for them to figure out."
Due to the efforts of the defense in front of her and her crucial seven saves against Wingate, Carson-Newman sophomore netminder Lilly Ebner (Hohentengen, Germany) was named the SAC Defensive Player of the Week for her two-game efforts and shutouts of the Lions and Bulldogs. This is the first SAC Defensive Player of the Week honors for C-N since Jasmine Rizk gathered the honor in October of 2019.
In other notable news for C-N, when Saturday's match kicks off, Carson-Newman will see the absence of Emilee Futrell in the starting lineup for the first time in 739 days. With her red card against Wingate, the Wilson, N.C. native will miss action and a spot in the Eagles starting XI for the first time since Oct. 12, 2019, on the road against Coker. However, this will be the first home match with Futrell not listed in the starting XI since September 18, 2019, when the Eagles took on the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial from McCown Field.
Turning the page to the red-hot Indians coming in on Saturday, when they have matched up from Mossy Creek, the advantage is in favor of C-N, 9-8-5 all-time. The first meeting in Jefferson City came in C-N's inaugural 1991 season as Catawba walked away 3-0 victors that year. Since then, the Eagles have outscored the Indians 39-26 in all meetings at home.
The last time the Eagles and Indians met in Mossy Creek was in the NCAA Southeast Regional during the 2018 season. C-N claimed the 3-0 victory while outshooting the Indians 12-6 in the match. C-N received goals from Catarina Realista in 7th minute, Magda Mosengo in the 53rd minute, and Kennedy Rankin in the 81st minute to leave no doubt.
Catawba will come to Mossy Creek with only one SAC match under their belt in 2021 as they defeated the Anderson Trojans 4-0 last Saturday. In other contests, the Indians are 4-0-1 including tying nationally ranked Columbus State 1-1 in their Sept. 9 match. So far this season, Catawba has outscored opponents 22-3 while compiling a SAC-leading 133 shot attempts with 71 of those being on goal. After six matches, Catawba has held four opponents to shutouts, holds a GAA of 0.48, and is averaging the second-most shots per game overall with 22.2 attempts per match.
Leading the Indians is the reigning SAC Coach of the Year, Nick Brown. Brown took over the women's soccer program at Catawba in the spring of 2015. Since then, he has compiled a 49-43-7 record heading into Saturday's showdown. Since Brown has taken over, the Indians have returned to the NCAA Tournament after a decade long absence, as they made back-to-back appearances in 2018 and 2019.
Prior to taking over as head coach, Brown was an assistant with the women's program since 2010. Brown also was a men's soccer player for the Indians during his time as a student. As a player, Brown was a two-year captain and helped guide Catawba to a pair of SAC tournament titles.
This season, the Indians have seen sophomore Sydney Jimmo step up and lead the offensive side of the ball. Jimmo was named the SAC Offensive Player of the Week and United Soccer Coaches National Division II Women's Soccer Player of the Week after capturing a hat trick against Chowan and adding another goal to her name in the SAC opener versus Anderson.
The sophomore notched on three more goals in Catawba's 6-0 onslaught of USC Aiken Wednesday as she now is tied for the team lead with freshman Hannah Dunn with eight goals. Jimmo has fired off the team-leading 34 shot attempts as 21 of her attempts have been on goal.
Freshman Hannah Dunn has been the other offensive keypiece for Catawba as she has netted eight goals as well. Dunn has fired 20 shot attempts with 16 of her attempts falling on goal, helping her have a SOG percentage of 0.800 through six matches.
In goal, all the results have fallen to junior Sierra Davis for Catawba. In six matches, Davis has allowed two goals, compiled 16 saves, holds a GAA of 0.35, and is responsible for all three of the Indians shutouts.
"In the preseason we talked about depth and this is why we have this level of depth. We have players who can step up and play when it's their time," Duffy said. "This Saturday, 7:30 under the lights should be a good game and hopefully it will be a cracking game as the girls know we need to take advantage of big games like this."
Carson-Newman will kickstart a two-game homestand as the Catawba College Catawba Indians pay Mossy Creek a visit this Saturday, September 25, for a 7:30 p.m. kick.
Fans can watch the action via the Eagles Sports Network at cneagles.com/live and follow live in-game updates via Twitter from @CN_Eagles.
