September 19, 2025

Eagles make the long trek to Hartsville for matchup with Coker

Two teams looking for their first win of the 2025 season will meet on Saturday afternoon as Carson-Newman (0-3-2, 0-1-0 SAC) visits Coker for a South Atlantic Conference match at 3:30 p.m.

Carson-Newman

0-4-2, 0-2-0

Coker

1-0-3, 1-0-0

Final	1	2	T
Carson-Newman (0-4-2, 0-2-0)	0	0	0
Coker (1-0-3, 1-0-0)	0	1	1

C-N Match Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Two teams looking for their first win of the 2025 season will meet on Saturday afternoon as Carson-Newman (0-3-2, 0-1-0 SAC) visits Coker (0-3-0, 0-0-0 SAC) for a South Atlantic Conference match at 3:30 p.m.

Despite being winless, Carson-Newman has been very competitive in its first five games of the season. The Eagles have played to a pair of 1-1 ties, suffered two one-goal losses and a two-goal loss last time out to #25 Auburn Montgomery. Even in a two-goal loss, C-N still managed to outshoot AUM but was held scoreless.

Four of those five results have been on the road. All four trips have been long ones for C-N. Roughly, C-N has traveled more than 36 hours to and back from its first four road games. Saturday's Coker trip adds another 10, five there and five back.

Ben Dukes and Mitchell Honcoop have been Carson-Newman's offense through five games. Dukes scored goals in the first two games, and Honcoop scored a goal in the next two games to make up Carson-Newman's four goals this season. C-N scored exactly one goal in the first four games, before being shutout on Wednesday.

Tomorrow's match concludes a road stretch in which the Eagles play five of their first six games on the road to start the 2025 season. The match also will be an opportunity to snap struggles on the road. Over the past two seasons, C-N is 2-15-5 on the road and has failed to win its last eight road trips.

Carson-Newman trails the all-time series 5-7-2 with Coker. The Cobras have an unbeaten streak of four in this series. C-N's last victory over Coker was October 23, 2021, 3-1 at McCown Field. Tomorrow's match will be just C-N's second trip to Hartsville in the past five seasons.

The Eagles are hoping to avoid an 0-2 start to league play for the second time in the past three seasons. In 2023, C-N dropped its first two league games and went on to win three SAC affairs that season.

Coming off one of the program's best seasons, Coker was selected to finish third place in the South Atlantic Conference's Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Cobras won 15 games in 2024, resulting in the program's second NCAA Tournament berth in the past four seasons. The season came to a halt in the Sweet 16, falling 1-0 to Lynn.

Former head coach Michael Antoinewicz was hired by USC Upstate after the incredible season and the Cobras turned to Stephen Magennis to lead the program. He spent the past nine seasons with Georgia Gwinnett College as an assistant coach. He coached more than 10 NAIA All-Americans, and more than 30 all-conference players during his time with the Grizzlies.

Magennis leads a brand new Coker team in 2025, returning just two players that have starting experience with the Cobras, the fewest in the South Atlantic Conference.

Coker has played to a draw versus its first three opponents. It went back and forth with North Georgia in the season opener, conceding in the 85th minute to tie 3-3. Playing a man down for the final 17 minutes, Coker scored in the 76th minute to rally against Young Harris in a draw. The Cobras enter Saturday's match well-rested, having the past ten days off. Last time out, Coker played to a scoreless draw with Barton.

Alexis Abalam leads the offense with two of the team's five goals this season. Christian Johnson has also been impactful, scoring once and assisting on another goal. It's an offense that ranks third in the SAC in shot accuracy with 46 percent of the shots hitting the target.

Two different players have spent time in goal. Carter Nunnery made two saves and allowed three goals in the season opener. Ismael Caria has started the last two matches, allowing two goals and posting a clean sheet.

First touch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. A video steam is available with a subscription to FloSports.