November 12, 2021

Second half surge ends Eagles season in SAC semifinals

MATTHEWS, N.C. – For the first time since 2018, fourth-seeded Carson-Newman women’s soccer would see action as part of the South Atlantic Conference semifinals

Carson-Newman

10-5-3

Catawba

17-0-2

Final	1	2	T
Carson-Newman (10-5-3)	0	0	0
Catawba (17-0-2)	1	2	3

Final Box Score (PDF)

MATTHEWS, N.C. – For the first time since 2018, fourth-seeded Carson-Newman women's soccer would see action as part of the South Atlantic Conference semifinals. Their opponent on the other side was none other than #10 nationally ranked and top-seeded Catawba College Catawba Indians.

Both sides fought hard for a spot in Sunday's SAC championship, but it was Catawba taking the 3-0 result and moving on while the season for the Eagles will come to an end.

This is the 13^th time a C-N program has appeared in the SAC semifinals in the 25 years they've been a part of the SAC tournament overall. After Friday, C-N now sees a 8-5 record in SAC semifinal games.

C-N (10-4-3) has now faced Catawba (16-0-2) five times in the SAC semifinal with C-N still holding a 3-2 advantage, as the scoring is now tied 8-8 between the two. The Eagles and Indians have now met in the SAC tourney a total of nine times as the Indians are now leading the matchup 4-3-2 all-time. In the SAC Tournament, Catawba is outscoring the Eagles 17-10.

"We knew what Catawba is capable of, and they deserve all the recognition and accolades they've received this season from coaches to players," head coach Simon Duffy said. "We were fighting for a spot to play for the conference title and, unlike previously, we didn't have anything to fall back on so we had to have the mindset of win or go home."

When playing in SAC conference postseason, the Eagles move to 6-4 under head coach Simon Duffy while holding an overall mark of 12-4 all-time. Meanwhile, under Duffy, the Eagles are now 23-9-2 on the road, including 18-5-2 against the SAC on the home pitch. When playing at a neutral site, the Eagles are 5-4 under Duffy including Friday's result.

The first half was a much different atmosphere for the Eagles and Indians, unlike their regular season meeting. Catawba would play with a sense of patience and possess a mindset of using long passes to challenge the Eagles defense. However, C-N stayed up with their upbeat pace of play from recent matches as in the 5^th minute, graduate student Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.) would get behind the Indians defense and create the first chance for the scoreboard to be cracked.

After receiving a long ball pass from a teammate, Futrell crossed the ball into the box in an attempt to find freshman Nellie Bryneus (Halmstad, Sweden) but Bryneus missed by mere inches as the score stayed tied at zero and both teams continued finding their groove.

The next quality attempt came for C-N in the 19^th minute as junior Addie Henry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) found Futrell on the run from the left side of the field. However, the attempt would not phase Catawba's Kazenmayer as it was wide left of the net. This was the registered shot for either side as both teams stayed strong on the defensive side.

Catawba soon responded with their first shot as Katie Beck, SAC Defensive Player of the Year, fired off a shot in the 20^th minute but C-N's Lilly Ebner (Hohentengen, Germany) stepped up and made the save. Then, Helen Summerell fired off a shot attempt in the 22^nd minute for the Indians but the C-N defense stepped up and blocked it.

Ebner then made her second save of the morning as Sydney Jimmo fired a shot in the 27^th minute that went right into the arms of the Germany native. C-N responded with a shot by freshman Sydnee Duncan (Athens, Tenn.) in the 28^th minute but her attempt would be high of the frame. Then, Futrell added another attempt of her action in the 31^st minute but once again, she was wide of the frame.

The Indians would get their first corner kick in the 34^th minute, and that is where the momentum shifted to the favor of Catawba. After Kasey Hahn sent the ball in, Sydney Jimmo headed a ball toward net, but Ebner would step up and save it. However, Katie Beck was in the right place at the right time as she would kick the saved ball into the net for her ninth of the season and giving Catawba a 1-0 lead.

The Eagles got maybe their best late first-half chance in the 39^th minute as they received a free kick opportunity from right outside the box. Addie Henry stepped up, but her attempt would be easy enough for Kazenmayer to stay in net and make the save.

At the halftime break, C-N trailed in shots 7-5 as one would be on goal for Carson-Newman with four on goal for Catawba. At the half, the shot leader for C-N would be Addie Henry and Emilee Futrell who both held two shot attempts. Meanwhile, Helen Summerell led the Indians with her three shot attempts in the first 45 minutes.

"We know what it feels like to be playing at this stage of the season as we have had success and failure from the conference tournament since I've been here," Duffy said.

Once the second half started, Catawba kept their high-pressure tenacity on the Eagles as they received a corner only two minutes into the second 45. However, C-N kept their cool and kept the deficit at one as they looked to make a comeback from Matthews.

Freshman Alisha Heiniger (Durrenroth, Switzerland) fired her first attempt on the day in the 52^nd minute but it would be saved as Catawba kept the lead. The next quality attempt by C-N came in the 66^th minute as graduate student Kristina Markfort (Munster, Germany) off a free kick from midfield. She found the ball and fired off an attempt but it was right to Kazenmayer for Catawba.

Sophomore Carina Wüst (Hausen im Wiesental, Germany) tried her luck in the 74^th minute but her attempt was blocked as the Eagles were awarded a corner kick to be taken by sophomore Abbie Zander (Baneberry, Tenn.). Zander sent the ball into the box, but no Eagle could get on the other end as they continued pressuring to try and find an equalizer.

Abbie Zander would fire another quality attempt in the 78^th minute but it was just a little too high as the score remained 1-0 in favor of Catawba. However, only a couple seconds later in the 79^th minute, Helen Summerell would double the lead as she fired a shot off a save by Ebner, making it 2-0 for Catawba and building their season scoring margin over C-N to 9-0 overall.

Then, in the 81^st minute, Maddie Capel was just inches away from making it three goals for the Indians, but her attempt met the crossbar and it remained a two-goal game. The Indians were not done with their pressure as Hannah Dunn, one of the nation's top goal scorers, made it 3-0 Catawba in the 84^th minute off a breakaway attempt and an assist by Sharon Mayes.

"My time at Carson-Newman has been 10x what I expected it to be," Futrell said. "I couldn't be more thankful for the experiences I've been given here. Soccer has been such an amazing part of my life, but I can't wait to see what else God has in store for me."

Once the final whistle blew, Carson-Newman finished the day with 13 shot attempts compared to 14 for the Indians. Of their 13 attempts, a measly three would be on goal for C-N while Catawba fired seven of their 14 attempts on goal.

For C-N offensively, graduate student Emilee Futrell finished with four shot attempts but no shots on goal to lead the team overall. A trio of Eagles (Addie Henry, Nellie Bryneus, Alisha Heiniger) would see a shot on goal in Friday's loss.

Friday saw C-N's Lilly Ebner make four saves on the 14 total shots by the Indians, as seven were shots on goal. Ebner now has 58 saves on the season and moves to 9-4-3 for 2021 action.

Catawba was led offensively by Helen Summerell as she had five total shot attempts with two shots on goal. The trio of goal scorers (Katie Beck, Helen Summerell, Hannah Dunn) finished with eight of the 14 total Indians shot attempts.

In between the pipes for Catawba was Jamie Kazenmayer. On Friday, she made three saves in net as part of the 14^th overall clean sheet for Catawba in 18 matches. The goalkeeper was pivotal in keeping the momentum with her team, as she kept firing up her teammates to push the pressure and force C-N into mistakes.

Eagle fans can stay up to date with the women's soccer team and the rest of Carson-Newman athletics at cneagles.com.

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