JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Lincoln Memorial's (5-4-2, 3-2-2 SAC) Ryan Branson scored 42 seconds into the second half to lift the Railsplitters past Carson-Newman (5-3-2, 2-2-2 SAC) on Wednesday night at McCown Field.
"I thought the better team won tonight," Carson-Newman women's soccer head coach Simon Duffy said. "We didn't match them in the first half, maybe for ten or 15 minutes but I thought they were on top a majority of the time in the first half. Kind of a dagger punch to score within the first minute of the second half. It was an unusual goal to concede. I thought we gave good effort in the last 30 minutes of the game and we really looked like we were going to score, but tip the hat to LMU. The intensity, the quality was very good."
The loss is Carson-Newman first home loss of the season, previously being 4-0 at McCown Field this season.
LMU breaks up C-N's unbeaten streak in the all-time series, which stood at three games.
The game's first three shots came in the same sequence. Alicia Bevins had a shot blocked, a rebound attempt from Ryan Branson was saved by Berna Kabakci (Zeddam, Netherlands) and a third chance from Bevins was also kept out of goal by Kabakci.
Kabakci made a third stop in the 14th minute, when Branson took aim from the top of the box.
Branson stayed active early in the match, with her shot toward the center of goal saved again by Kabakci in the 24th minute.
Two of Carson-Newman's three shots in the opening half came in the same sequence. Savannah Fields (Johnson City, Tenn.) had her 30th minute shot blocked and Cameron Giles's (Chattanooga, Tenn.) second effort went wide of the target.
Kabakci kept LMU off the board by making six saves in the first 45 minutes of the game.
LMU went to work to start the second half. Off the restart, Ryan Branson took a pass from Victoria Filsner and flicked it over Kabakci and into the back of the net to give Lincoln Memorial the 1-0 lead, 42 seconds into the second half.
Carson-Newman's only shot on target came in the 55th minute. Karli Pettitt (Kingston, Tenn.) fired a shot from near the sideline and forced Bente Latenstien to punch it over the goal.
Neither side took a shot on target in the final 35 minutes of the game, but C-N would threaten.
In the 57th minute, Krista Nielsen tried her chance but missed the target.
Kabacki kept the game within striking distance in the 62nd minute. She made her seventh and final save of the match on another Filsner shot attempt.
C-N's best opportunity late in the match came from Giles in the 81st minute. The graduate student dribbled to her right and booted a right-footed shot off the crossbar. The Eagles would get a corner kick off the chance but could not manage to get another look at goal.
Nielsen took the final shot of the match, missing wide in the 87th minute.
Kabakci finished with seven saves in the match, the second-most she has made in a game this season.
LMU's Branson took seven shots, four of which hit the target.
The Railsplitters outshot the Eagles 14-9 and 8-1 on goal. It's just the third time this season that Carson-Newman has been outshot by its opponent.
The Eagles are back in action on Saturday when it travels to Hickory, North Carolina to battle #7 Lenoir-Rhyne. The match will start at 1:00 p.m. A live stream of the game is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/flowsoc.
Fans can also follow along by following @CN_Eagles on X (Twitter) and Instagram for in-game updates.
