VIDEO: Karli Pettitt Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman continued its winning ways versus King (0-2), securing a 2-0 victory on Wednesday evening at McCown Field, remaining unbeaten against the Tornado all-time.
Carson-Newman has now won all 14 meetings in this series and increased its goal advantage in the series to 51-5. King has not score in its last five games against C-N.
"There was a few things we spoke about before the game," Carson-Newman head women's soccer coach Simon Duffy said. "We wanted to chase the first goal, which we did and then get a clean sheet because it's something we haven't had this season. We wanted a team effort, denying crosses, blocking shots and limiting any looks at goal. Defensively, we did that today."
The win improves Carson-Newman's home record to 2-0 this season. It's just the third time the program has won its first two home games at McCown Field under Duffy and the first since 2018.
Sophomore Karli Pettitt (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) showed her dribbling ability, breaking a King defender's ankles to make her way into the box, where she struck a shot into the upper part of goal to give Carson-Newman the 1-0 lead in the 10th minute.
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— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CN_Eagles) September 11, 2024
KARLI PETTITT WITH AN ANKLE BREAKER TO START THE SCORING
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It's the second consecutive game that Pettitt has scored, both of which have been the game's first goal.
"Everything leading up to that play was wonderful," Duffy said. "She was open and had space because we moved the ball well. Thankfully, Karli made an excellent move to the inside to get past her and had a wonderful strike just under the cross bar."
After the early goal, several different C-N players got involved offensively creating opportunities. Anita Arnadottir (Alftanes, Iceland), Cameron Giles (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Selina Jud (Wilderswil, Switzerland) all had chances over the next 16 minutes of game action but were able to extend the lead.
The best chance to score before the half came in the 30th minute. After an excellent pass forward, Savannah Fields (Johnson City, Tenn.) had one on one opportunity with the King goalkeeper, but Olivia Seston won the battle to save the shot and keep it a one-goal game.
Despite scoring just the one goal, C-N held King without a shot in the opening half. The Eagles played the majority of the opening half in King's defending half of the field and maintained tons of possession.
Gretchen Grambow took King's first shot of the game early in the second half that forced C-N goalkeeper Berna Kabakci (Zeddam, Netherlands) to make her first save of the match.
The Eagles took their fourth corner kick of the match in the 68th minute. Felicia Frick's (Eschen, Liechtenstein.) corner kick forced the goalkeeper Seston to swat it away to derail any threat of increasing the lead.
C-N got its much-needed insurance goal in the 72nd minute. Iris Palsdottir sent a ground pass through the King defense all the way forward to Molly Bukiewicz (Beavercreek, Ohio). The graduate student created space and knocked her first career goal into the back of the net to increase the C-N lead to 2-0.
Kabakci and the Eagles defense held firm the rest of the way to record their first clean sheet of the season. It's the 32nd time, since Duffy took over, that his team has not allowed its opponent to score a goal. For Kabakci, its her third career shutout and seventh career win. It's the fifth consecutive meeting that Carson-Newman has not allowed King to score a goal.
The Eagles improve their record to 67-2-3 under Duffy when scoring two goals or more in a match.
C-N outshot the Tornado 17-3, and had five corner kicks to King's zero.
Carson-Newman now turns its attention to a non-conference road contest on Saturday afternoon against Trevecca Nazarene at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. A live stream of the contest is available with a subscription to FloSports. Fans can also follow along to @CN_Eagles on X (Twitter) and Instagram for in-game updates.
