JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For the second straight Saturday, Carson-Newman (5-4-2, 4-3-1) will play as host to a ranked foe, this one being #2 Catawba (11-0, 6-0) at McCown Field tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m.
On Saturday, the Eagles will have the opportunity to do something they have never done before. Beat a top 5 team in the country. C-N has encountered four top five teams over the course of its program history but is 0-4. The most recent chance came during Simon Duffy's first season, in the national championship game in 2017, when C-N fell in penalty kicks to #1 Central Missouri.
The ranked foe will be the 13th ranked opponent that Simon Duffy's team will encounter over the course of seven seasons. He is 5-6-1 all-time against top 25 competition.
Carson-Newman enters the match off a critical 2-1 win against Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday to move into fourth place in the SAC standings. It was C-N's fourth league win of the year increasing its point total to 13.
C-N's recipe for success under Duffy has been scoring the game's first goal. The Eagles are 44-3-5 when doing so, winning nearly 85% of the time. This season, C-N has scored first four times, all in conference play and has won all four games. Felicia Frick (Eschen, Liechenstein) has been a catalyst to C-N's attack. She is tied for the fourth-most assists in the SAC with five, a mark that is tied for 24th in the country as well.
The two sides met on October 15 last season, a game that saw C-N tie #8 Catawba. The Eagles struck first on a wonderful strike from Maja Bengtsson (Malung, Sweden) in the 65th minute. The Indians had an quick answer just eight minutes later, as Helen Summerell scored off a pass from Maria Rayburn. Both defenses held strong in the final 15 minutes to settle for the draw. Prior to that tie, Catawba had won two straight over C-N and outscored the Eagles 10-0. Before the pair of losses in the 2021 season, Carson-Newman had recorded seven straight wins over Catawba, from 2015-19.
Catawba is one of two remaining unbeaten teams that have not lost or tied an opponent this season. The Indians have their highest ranking of the season at #2 and have been ranked all season. The Indians are off to a program-best 11-0 start and a 6-0 record in SAC play. They have one win over a ranked team this season, a 6-5 defeat of #17 Columbus State back on September 8th.
They've got some wonderful players and they play a system they are very familiar with and very efficient with," Carson-Newman head coach Simon Duffy said. "They are able to find ways to compete at a very high level. It seems like their players have a good belief in themselves and the team. We are trying to get there day by day and just excited to welcome them to Mossy Creek tomorrow for a big game."
After outscoring teams 30-5 in the first five games of the season, Catawba has only outscored, mainly conference opponents, 16-3. Three of their past five games have been one goal victories.
The nation's number one scoring offense is led by the nation's leading goal scorer in Sydney Jimmo with 14 goals in 11 games. Jimmo has a group of impactful players around her. Scoring 33 goals the past two seasons, Hannah Dunn has done more of the distributing in her senior year, dishing out eight assists, the third most in the country. Dunn and Jimmo are third and fourth among active players in career goals, while Dunn is fifth in active career points. Dunn is one of six players in the country with at least 30 goals and 20 assists.
Another standout has been freshman forward Bree Ehmer who has six goals and five assists. Helen Summerell has five goals and four assists as well. 15 different Lady Indians have combined for the country's most goals, 46.
Opponents have only attempted 55 shots on the Indians, with 22 going to goal. Keeper Ashley Hughes has had little to do, making just nine saves. But, she has only allowed three goals and has a 0.44 goals against average mark. The team has seven shutouts this season.
Kick off is slated for 7:30 p.m. from McCown Field. The game can be streamed on FloSports with a subscription. Fans can also follow along to @CN_Eagles on Twitter and Instagram for in-game updates.
