Lady Eagles Down Mars Hill
Nov. 4, 2008
JEFFERSON CITY, TENN. - The Carson-Newman women's soccer team defeated Mars Hill 5-2 in the first round of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament. The Lady Eagles will advance to the second round where they will meet the winner of Tusculum and Lenoir-Rhyne on Friday. The Lady Eagles improve to 14-5 and Mars Hill falls to 8-10-3. The first goal came from the Lions in the 9th minute of the game. Abbie Hoard found the back of the net on an unassisted shot from just outside the eighteen. The ball dropped just over the hands of Carson-Newman keeper Lauren MacKenzie (Barrie, Ontario). The Eagles responded just four minutes later when freshman Trenna Howell (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) put the ball in the back of the net. Howell was assisted by senior Katie Perea (Cumming, Ga.). Howell struck again three minutes after with a one touch finish from a cross served by sophomore Lydia Wright (Nashville, Tenn.) to make the score 2-1. In the 31st minutes of the first half, sophomore Morgan Gruenenfelder (Sweetwater, Tenn.) placed the ball above Mars Hill keeper Becca Sellars in the top left hand corner of the goal. Gruenenfelder was assisted by Howell. With ten minutes left in the half Perea shot the ball into the left corner of the goal from a corner kick served on the ground by Wright to make the score at half 4-1. Carson-Newman outshot Mars Hill 13-4 in the first half. " I am very pleased that we are going on to the final four of the SAC tournament," said head coach Phil McNamara, "I thought the girls showed a lot of character after going down 1-0 and getting to half with a 4-1 score." In the 14th minute of the second half, Mars Hill struck on a free kick caused by a Carson-Newman foul. Brittany Downs placed the ball in the back of the Lady Eagle net, making the score 4-2 in favor of C-N. Most of the second half was a battle between the two teams until Carson-Newman's Howell found the back of the net for the third time of the game to make the final score 5-2. "The girls worked hard and deserved the result," added McNamara, "Mars Hill made it difficult for us in the second half by playing four forwards but the girls stood tall and got the result we needed. That is the most important thing at this point in the season." The Lady Eagles will be back in action Friday in Rock Hill, S.C. when they face the winner of Tusculum against Lenoir-Rhyne at 3 p.m.
