Battle at Mars Hill Ends in Draw
September 13, 2017

Battle at Mars Hill Ends in Draw

MARS HILL, N.C. -- Despite numerous shooting opportunities from both teams, the Lions and Eagles were not able to find the back of the net on Wednesday evening, fighting to a 0-0 draw to begin South Atlantic Conference play at Meares Stadium.

MARS HILL, N.C. -- Despite numerous shooting opportunities from both teams, the Lions and Eagles were not able to find the back of the net on Wednesday evening, fighting to a 0-0 draw to begin South Atlantic Conference play at Meares Stadium.

The tie marked the first 0-0 draw for Carson-Newman since 2013 against Lander in the NCAA Tournament and the first in conference play since 2011, a game that also pitted the Eagles (2-1-1, 0-0-1 SAC) against the Lions at Mars Hill.

The Eagles outshot Mars Hill 13-9 by the end of the night, but both teams struggled to find a rhythm early on until Oscar Mitchell recorded the first shot for the Lions in the 11th minute.

"We outplayed them in every department, but were not clinical when we needed to be," head coach Stephen Lyons mentioned of his team's performance.

Heading into the half with a scoreless tie, C-N edged seven shots compared to five from the Lions (0-3-1, 0-0-1 SAC). Tom Read led the way for C-N with five of the team's shots, one being on goal in the 57th minute that was saved by goalkeeper Ben Lucas.  

Both overtime periods saw little change among the teams. No shots were taken in the first overtime by either side, but both shots taken in the second period came from Eagles, Evan Harr attempted a header shot followed not long after by a shot from Read that went wide.

Read led the Eagles scoring efforts with six shots in the contest including the shot in the 105th minute that would end up being the last shot of the game.

Twan Verweij started for the third time this season in front of the net. Both of the shots he faced came in the first half of play with two saves. Similarly, for the Lions, Lucas faced two shots on goal from C-N with two saves.

"Good to keep a clean sheet and felt overall performance was good for long periods," Lyons analyzed. "We need to show positive response now on Saturday."

The Eagles return to Mossy Creek for a Saturday afternoon meeting with Newberry. Kick-off is slated for 5:00 p.m. The contest will be streamed live along with live stats and updates from @CNathletics.

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