November 3, 2015

Ness’s goal leads No. 14 Eagles past Railsplitters 1-0

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Despite playing a majority of the second half a player down, the 14th-ranked and top-seed Carson-Newman women’s soccer team (16-2) tallied a free kick goal in the 59th-minute from freshman Varin Ness (Sogndal, Norway) to hold off upset-minded Lincoln Memorial (5-9-3) in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament quarterfinals Tuesday night at McCown Field.

Lincoln Memorial

5-9-3

Carson-Newman

16-2

Final	1	2	T
Lincoln Memorial (5-9-3)	0	0	0
Carson-Newman (16-2)	0	1	1

Richard Moodie Interview

Jessica Fraiture Interview

Game Highlights

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Despite playing a majority of the second half a player down, the 14^th-ranked and top-seed Carson-Newman women's soccer team (16-2) tallied a free kick goal in the 59^th-minute from freshman Varin Ness (Sogndal, Norway) to hold off upset-minded Lincoln Memorial (5-9-3) in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament quarterfinals Tuesday night at McCown Field.

The win was the first for Carson-Newman when playing a player-down since Sept. 2004 when the Eagles held off Lenoir-Rhyne; it was also the Eagles' first win in the postseason since a win in the 2009 NCAA Sweet 16 over Columbus State.

"Today was a tough day; we had good moments when we were on the ball but struggled to find the back of the net. Overall, we came out with the win but there is a lot to learn moving forward in the tournament," assistant coach Sarah Tompkins said.

C-N outshot LMU 7-5 in the first stanza with the Eagles attempting five corner kicks.

Junior Megan Peterson (Parrish, Fla.) was issued for a straight red card in the 54^th-minute after tackling a Lincoln Memorial attacker on a breakaway with the referee deeming Peterson the final defender.

After a handball was called on LMU at the edge of the 18-yard box, Ness lined up the free kick just right of center of the center of the field and 20-yards out. Ness's shot struck off the crossbar and into the right corner of the net for the first goal of the contest.

After the goal, Carson-Newman had to withstand a barrage of Railsplitter attempts as LMU reeled off three shots over the span of the next 10 minutes.

The Eagles were able to settle back into the contest and tallied four shots in the final 20 minutes and hold on to the 1-0 win.

Freshman goalkeeper Jessica Fraiture (Hebron, Ky.) recorded five saves, one shy of her career-high, in her seventh-shutout of her career. Fraiture's seven clean sheets in her freshman campaign ranks third all-time for shutouts in a season.

Ness now has 11 goals on the season and scored Carson-Newman's first postseason goal since Danna Stringle against Lenoir-Rhyne in 2013.

Lincoln Memorial was just the third team to hold Carson-Newman scoreless in the first half of play; Ohio Dominican and Wingate were the other two teams to achieve the feat.

Carson-Newman advances to the SAC Tournament semifinals that will be played at Manchester Meadows in Rock Hill, S.C. as the top-seeded Eagles will face the four-seed Anderson (S.C.) Trojans on Friday night at 5 p.m.

-CN-