JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After claiming another three points on Wednesday, Carson-Newman women's soccer will look to continue their winning ways as they travel to the Queen City for a battle with the Queen Royals Saturday. The Eagles (4-2-2, 3-1 SAC) will look to spoil the Royals (6-2, 4-0 SAC) perfect start in SAC play thus far as the two programs kick off at 5:00 p.m. Saturday in Charlotte.
Carson-Newman will look to continue their success from Wednesday's win over the Tusculum Pioneers. In the match, it was sophomore Savannah Fields (Johnson City, Tenn.) getting the Eagles an equalizer in the 56th minute before senior Jente Kuper (Ottersberg, Germany) netted the game-winner for the Eagles in the 85th minute. With Wednesday's result, the Eagles have now won four straight over their foes from Greeneville and move ahead in that respective series 21-19-2 all-time.
"We weren't really playing our best and being as brave as we should have been," head coach Simon Duffy said. "That second half was much more as we like to play as Savannah and Jente netted the goals and helped us come out of the match with a win. Told the girls to go out there and have fun and be brave."
As Wednesday ended 2-1 in favor of C-N, it marked the fifth ever matchup between the Eagles and Pioneers to end with that score. Of the previous four such match results, the Eagles and Pioneers have split 2-2 all-time.
Turning the page to the Royals, the Eagles currently hold a commanding series lead as they lead the series 11-4 all-time, including winning four out of the last five matches. Under Duffy, the Eagles have outscored the Royals 12-5 and have won the only road match under Duffy back in 2018 by a score of 2-0. When making the trip to Charlotte, the Eagles are 4-2 all-time, outscoring the Royals 10-7 over the six matches, and have not lost against the Royals on the road since 2014 when Queens took home the 2-0 victory.
The last time the Eagles and Royals met in the Queen City was at the midway point of the 2018 season. On that day, it would be former Eagle All-American Magda Mosengo making sure to lead the Eagles to victory as she netted both goals for C-N as the Eagles won 2-0. First, it was Mosengo linking up with teammate Emilee Futrell in the 47th minute to make it an early 1-0 advantage for C-N. Mosengo wasted little to no time and doubling the lead and securing the brace after finding a timely assist from Alex Brandan in the 52nd minute to make it 2-0 Eagles as that would be the final result.
After the match ended, not only did C-N secure the victory but they were also able to outshoot the Royals 18-5, including six attempts on goal. Mosengo led the charge in shots for the Eagles as she fired off six attempts and had three be claimed as shots on goal.
Saturday also marks the return of a crucial part of the Eagles offense in graduate student Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.). Futrell had to miss the previous two games for the Eagles after receiving a direct red card against Wingate which was deemed as suitable for a two-match suspension. Head coach Simon Duffy knows what kind of leadership Futrell brings to the team when she's on the pitch and knows that having her back could be a pivotal difference against Queens.
"We truly missed Emilee these last few matches, no doubt. It is what it is and she knows how to be back out there and help us win games," Duffy said. "We know that Queens is a good team and will be ready for a highly contested match on Saturday but we know that we have the talent and depth to win games in this conference and tonight shows it."
Queens will welcome in the Eagles as they stand as one of the hottest teams in the South Atlantic Conference in 2021 so far. The Royals are one of only two SAC schools (LMU) to post a perfect 4-0 record thus far, outscoring opponents 17-6 overall and 14-1 in SAC play. However, Saturday will be the first home match for Queens since September 18 when they hosted the Newberry Wolves in their second SAC match of the season.
So far in 2021 SAC play, Queens has scored the most goals (14), has attempted the most corner kicks (24), has the second-most shots on goal (47), the second-most shutouts (3), while also posting the second-highest shot percentage (.175) and shots on goal percentage (.588).
In their last match on Wednesday, Emma Rose Stockton was the hero for the Royals as she won a foot race in overtime to punch the ball over the head of the Anderson goalie and gave Queens the 1-0 victory. In the match, Queens outshot the Trojans 22-7 with 12 of their attempts being shots on goal. It was indeed Stockton who led the Royals on offense as she held seven shot attempts and four shots on goal in the match.
Queens recently hired a new head coach as Aimee Haywood was announced as the fifth head coach in Queen's women's soccer program history. She comes to the Queen City from Ohio Dominican University. She joined the staff in the summer of 2020 and led the Royals to a mark of 7-2-1 overall during the shortened spring season, including a 5-1 SAC record and an appearance in the SAC Championship final for the first time ever.
While at Ohio Dominican, Haywood compiled a 44-25-10 overall record and 33-13-6 conference record at the helm. She was able to lead the Panthers to a program record 16 victories during the 2017 season, earning the program's first NCAA Championship win in program history. She led the Panthers to return to the conference championship final in 2019 as the Panthers finished second that season with five members named all-conference selections.
As a student-athlete at ODU, she was a two-time captain who earned a pair of all-conference awards while also being a SAAC representative and SAAC president during her senior season. As a goalkeeper, she graduated with the school record for most shutouts in a season, games played in a season, and games played in a career as a Panther goalkeeper.
On the offensive side of the ball during SAC play, Sophia Muetterties has netted three goals off 11 shot attempts and eight shots on goal. Muetterties has played 250 minutes of action and also has added an assist to bring her SAC season total to seven through the four matches thus far. The Royals have also seen consistent performances from Eirinn McCafferty in SAC play. Through the four matches, she has played in three of the contests as she has compiled two goals off five shot attempts and five shots on goal.
In goal for the Royals has been Erica Turner as she has made all four starts in net for Haywood's crew. In 317:45 minutes of action, Turner has only allowed one goal while making 14 saves and holding two opponents to a shutout. Most notably, Turner holds the second-lowest goals against average at 0.28 in SAC play, trailing only Sierra Davis of Catawba who has yet to allow a single goal.
Carson-Newman will head to Charlotte as they prepare to gain another three points in SAC play when they kick off against the Queens Royals on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
Fans can watch the action via the Queens Sports Network at this link and follow live in-game updates via Twitter from @CN_Eagles.
