Eagles crack open SAC play against Mars Hill
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – It is a new season for Carson-Newman women’s soccer as the Eagles will look to make a strong start in SAC play against the Mars Hill Lions on Wednesday.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – It is a new season for Carson-Newman women's soccer as the Eagles will look to make a strong start in SAC play against the Mars Hill Lions on Wednesday. The Eagles (1-1-2, 0-0 SAC) come into conference play after wrapping up early season non-conference action last Saturday with a 1-1 draw with Trevecca Nazarene from McCown Field.
"The players are well aware of the atmosphere heading into conference play. Yes, we know what we can do using the second half against North Georgia as a benchmark," head coach Simon Duffy said. "We know that Mars Hill is a talented team who is well-structured and will give us a tough test to open conference play. We've had multiple attempts, but we need to convert and take advantage of the familiarity to this place. We have six out of our 13 SAC games this season at home, so we need to capitalize and win when we play at home as well as on the road."
After wrapping up the early season portion of non-conference action, the Eagles are faced with a 1-1-2 record for the first time since 1997 under head coach Will Beddingfield. In that season, C-N started off with a lost to Lincoln Memorial in overtime (2-1), tied Concord (2-2), gathered a win over East Tennessee State (3-1), and then tied Lenoir-Rhyne (0-0) in the first SAC match of that year.
Since head coach Simon Duffy took over in 2017, when playing in the friendly confines of McCown Field, the Eagles are 25-6-3 under Duffy and have outscored opponents 90-29 at home since 2017.
Most recently, since 2008, Carson-Newman has not lost a match to the Lions and have outscored them 59-8. The closest result during the 15-match winning streak for C-N was a 1-0 victory during the 2012 season. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Eagles saw their largest margin of victory in 2016 when C-N declawed the Lions 8-0 in Richard Moodie's last season as head coach.
"Our conference is getting better and better every year. We added Limestone to the SAC family in soccer last year and when you look at the progression of the season so far, it shows the competition," Duffy said. "I wish we could've been in a better position but we know we will turn the page and get ready for conference come Wednesday when we kick off."
When the two SAC sides have met here in Mossy Creek, the line reads 15-0-1 all-time with the Eagles never dropping a home match to the Lions. In the first home meeting for C-N against Mars Hill, it was 6-0 victory during the 1994 season. Most recently, the Lions came to Mossy Creek during the shortened spring 2020 season, as Duffy's squad cleaned house and walked away with a 6-0 win as well last March.
All-time the scoring margin when the two sides have met here in Mossy Creek is 64-8. The closest Mars Hill has come to victory was during the 1996 season when the two sides battled to the lone draw in Jefferson City in the series history.
The last time the Eagles and Lions met from McCown Field was March 4, 2021 as the Eagles scored three goals in each half and walked away 6-0 victors. It was junior Makayla Garner (Fort Mill, S.C.) getting the Eagles off to a quick start as she found the back of the net in the 10th minute to make it 1-0. Almost 35 minutes later of game action, graduate student Lira Mathes (Knoxville, Tenn.) was able to use her dominating height advantage to double the Eagles lead and make it 2-0 in the 36th minute. The Knoxville native made quick work once again as she completed the individual brace in the 40th minute after knocking in a Molly Bukiewicz (Beavercreek, Ohio) assist and making it 3-0 Eagles after 45 minutes of action.
In the second half, less than one minute from kickoff, Garner collected an individual brace herself as she made it 4-0 Carson-Newman and made sure to help C-N secure their first home win of the shortened 2020 season. It was then a pair of sophomore joining the party as sophomore Savannah Fields (Johnson City, Tenn.) scored in the 53rd minute from an assist by Abbie Zander (Baneberry, Tenn.) before sophomore Marta De Zanger (Barcelona, Spain) capped off the scoring for C-N in the 86th minute as the Eagles secured their 15th straight victory over Mars Hill and continued their dominance in the overall series.
Mars Hill comes into Wednesday's contest as the conference leader with 35 saves on 58 shot attempts faced. The Lions also possess the highest shots-on-goal percentage at 0.667% to go along with the second-highest shutout totals with a pair.
Fifth-year head coach Jamey Newsome is looking to continue building the Lions program. Since his first year at the helm, the Lions are 8-43-2 all-time as their highest single-season win total under Newsome came in his first and second seasons as Mars Hill finished 3-12 in 2017 and 3-12-1 in 2018.
Prior to arriving at Mars Hill, Newsome served as assistant director of Darlington School Soccer Academy. Before his time at Darlington, Newsome was head coach at Auburn-Montgomery where he amassed a 42-28-6 all-time record including coaching six NAIA All-Americans and 18 Southern States Athletic Conference All-Conference players.
The Lions are led by Sanne Martinsen once more as she currently holds two goals on eight shot attempts and seven shots-on-goal. The senior also had notched one game-winner for the Lions and holds a shots-on-goal percentage of 0.875%
In goal, it has been the freshman, Camryn Miller seeing action in three of the four contests for Mars Hill in 2021. Over her 290 minutes of action, the freshman has faced 28 shot attempts with 26 saves and a GAA of 0.62. Miller is 1-1-1 on the season and holds a save percentage of 0.929% in her three matches of action.
"We know the talent that Sanne Martinsen brings to them and how well-coached they have become," Duffy said. "We're hoping to start the conference season off strong as we kickoff against the Lions prior to the lads game after us."
Wednesday's SAC home opener between the Eagles and Lions is set for a 5:00 p.m. kickoff from McCown Field.
Fans can tune into the game via cneagles.com/live and follow live in-game updates on Twitter at @CN_Eagles.
Team Stats
| Game Statistics | Mars Hill | Carson-Newman |
|---|---|---|
| Shots (on goal) | 2 (0) | 24 (8) |
| Saves | 6 | 0 |
| Fouls | 8 | 9 |
| Corner Kicks | 3 | 5 |
| Offsides | 0 | 3 |
