September 6, 2022

Eagles hit the road to begin SAC play

Carson-Newman (2-1-1) begins South Atlantic Conference play tomorrow evening when it travels to Gaffney, South Carolina to take on Limestone (0-1-2).

Carson-Newman

2-1-2

Limestone

0-1-3

Final	1	2	T
Carson-Newman (2-1-2)	0	1	1
Limestone (0-1-3)	1	0	1

Stephen Lyons Interview

Match Notes

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.- Carson-Newman (2-1-1) begins South Atlantic Conference play tomorrow evening when it travels to Gaffney, South Carolina to take on Limestone (0-1-2).

C-N is currently in the midst of its longest road stretch of the season. This will be the third consecutive road match for the Eagles. During this road stretch, C-N is 0-1-1 with the lone loss coming to Young Harris last week. In the first four games of the season, the Eagles have conceded the first goal of the game.

"The group has bought into what has been asked so far," Coach Stephen Lyons said. "A lot of players are playing big minutes, and the work, grit and attitude, a lot of the time against adversity has been brilliant. Hopefully we can continue that and get a few guys back and build on some good results."

Senior Nic Carsh leads the team with two goals scored, both coming in the win against Spring Hill on Aug. 28. Seven other Eagles have scored this season. Senior Willem Kruijk leads the Eagles in assists (2) and shots (9). C-N enters SAC play ranked 2^nd,in the conference, in goals, shots, assists and total points.

Senior defenders Ben King and Eric Schmutzer have played all 360:00 minutes to begin the season.

Senior goalkeeper Darin De Meza has made three starts, recording six saves. Five of those six saves came in the 1-0 loss to Young Harris last Wednesday.

C-N has not lost its first SAC road game since the 2018 season, when it fell to Lenoir-Rhyne on Sept. 12.

Limestone began its season with three non-conference opponents and was not unable to record a victory. The Saints lost their season opener to Belmont Abbey 3-2 and then tied with Young Harris (0-0) and Florida Tech (1-1). It's the first time since 2004 that the Saints were unable to record a win in their first three matches of the season.

Limestone is headed up by Ali Al-Gashamy who enters his first season as the men's soccer head coach. He spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach at Gardner-Webb.

"They're a good team," Coach Stephen Lyons said. "They got a new coach this year, but still well-organized. A lot of key players that will be problems for us and then obviously we've got areas to exploit with them. Just another SAC game that's going to be a tough one, whoever you're playing."

Three different Saints players have scored this season and three different players have assisted on those three goals. Goalkeeper Afie Rule has started all three games in goal, recording five saves and one clean sheet.

Limestone was picked to finish 3^rd in the 2022 SAC Preseason Poll. Defender Alexander Render and midfielder Antonio Ferreira were picked to the preseason all-SAC first team.

Since joining the South Atlantic Conference in 2020, the Saints have only lost two home conference games.

Both of these teams got off to hot starts in conference play last season. C-N won its first six games and Limestone won its first seven. Both teams also have outstanding records the past two seasons in conference play. Limestone is 12-3-1 since joining the SAC and C-N is 14-3 the past two years.

Carson-Newman won last year's meeting against the Saints 2-0, a game in which the Eagles clinched the regular season conference championship.

The match will kick off at 6:00 p.m. Be certain to follow Carson-Newman athletics on twitter at @cn_eagles for live updates.

The game can be streamed on FloSports with a subscription.