September 27, 2025

Eagles hold off Newberry’s late rally, win 2-1 to end September

Carson-Newman (1-5-2, 1-2 SAC) scored an early and late goal to take down one of the 29 remaining unbeaten teams in DII, defeating Newberry (4-1-1, 1-1-1 SAC) 2-1 on Saturday evening at the Smith Road Complex.

Carson-Newman

1-5-2, 1-2-0

Newberry

4-1-1, 1-1-1

Final	1	2	T
Carson-Newman (1-5-2, 1-2-0)	1	1	2
Newberry (4-1-1, 1-1-1)	0	1	1

Box Score (PDF)

NEWBERRY, S.C. – Carson-Newman (1-5-2, 1-2 SAC) scored an early and late goal to take down one of the 29 remaining unbeaten teams in DII, defeating Newberry (4-1-1, 1-1-1 SAC) 2-1 on Saturday evening at the Smith Road Complex.

"Really pleased for the guys today," Carson-Newman head coach Stephen Lyons said. "We showed a lot of quality today in the first half and a lot of grit in the second half. We scored two great goals and got a big penalty save from Elijah (Buford), which is just as big as scoring a goal. Hopefully we can build on this result moving forward. Sure, the lads will enjoy it, but we'll get back to work on Monday."

The win continues Carson-Newman's dominance in a 30+ year series with Newberry. C-N stays unbeaten in the 32 all-time meetings and has now won 30 of them.

Lyons' lads become the first team to beat Newberry this season. The Wolves were off to their best start in program history and had won three straight games.

The Eagles wasted no time taking a lead, scoring 90 seconds into the match. Jakob Lechner lifted a ball into the far-left corner, allowing Antoine Torrent to run after it. The sophomore beat a Newberry defender and delivered a pass into the center of the box, where Rhydian Williams booted a right-footed shot into the upper right part of goal to make it 1-0. It was the earliest goal by a C-N player since Yannick Kranz scored 38 seconds into a match versus Mars Hill on September 15, 2021. The goal for Williams was his first of the year and fourth of his C-N career.

C-N nearly doubled its lead with a pair of opportunities in the 18th minute. Ben Dukes (Southampton, England) danced by two Newberry defenders and had his left-footed shot from outside the box saved by the goalkeeper Charlie Clark. On the ensuing corner kick, Mitchell Honcoop had a ground shot also saved by Clark.

Carson-Newman continued to pile up the offensive chances in the first half. After a pair of shots missed high, Isaac Pascal (Southend, England) provided another shot on target and forced Clark into a leaping save.

Carson-Newman avoided a scare in the 39th minute. Newberry's Giuseppe Gereau created space in the left side of the box and slid a shot that dinged off the right post and out of play.

That was Newberry's best chance to score in the opening half. All six of its shot went off target, with one hitting off the post. C-N took 11 shots, six of which hit the target.

Honcoop delivered the first shot of the second half. In the 52nd minute, his shot was saved by Clark who needed to dive to his right.

Carson-Newman goalkeeper Elijah Buford (Atlanta, Ga.) was tasked with making his first save of the match in the 54th minute.

The junior goalkeeper made a second save in the 71st minute. Gereau had a shot toward the top part of goal saved by Buford.

After a pair of shots off target, the Eagles would finally extend their lead in the 86th minute. Honcoop created space in the center of the pitch and fired a laser that dinged off the right post and into goal to make it 2-0 C-N.

Honcoop's goal was his team-leading fourth and a much needed one. Something else that was much needed, was a save from Buford shortly after the restart. A foul by Lechner in the box, set up Newberry for a penalty kick opportunity. Buford saved his second penalty of the year, stopping Ben Curtis' shot toward the bottom right corner of goal.

That save and Honcoop's goal was needed because of Brayden Martinez did in the 89th minute. Off a long throw in, he booted a right-footed shot through a scrum of traffic in the box and brought the Wolves within a goal with less than two minutes to play.

Newberry managed to get one more shot, but it came from the goalkeeper Charlie Clark outside the box and the Eagles blocked.

Carson-Newman outshot Newberry in the first half, but not in the match. The Wolves outshot C-N 13-4 in the second half and did so 19-15 for the full 90 minutes. Of more importance, C-N had nine of its 15 shots go on goal, while Newberry had just four of its 19. Both teams managed six corner kicks.

Carson-Newman's two-goal effort was its first of the year, and resulted in its first win as well. Lyons led teams improve to 55-3-8 when scoring multiple goals in a game.

The Eagles will look to build a winning streak when they welcome Emory & Henry to McCown Field on Wednesday evening at 5:00 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network is available with a subscription to FloSports.