September 28, 2021

Derby day brings Tusculum to town

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Eyeing its fourth 4-0 start in South Atlantic Conference action in program history, Carson-Newman welcomes Tusculum to McCown Field for a Wednesday night tussle under the lights at 7:30 p.m.

Tusculum

1-5-1, 0-3-1 SAC

Carson-Newman

5-2, 4-0 SAC

Final	1	2	T
Tusculum (1-5-1, 0-3-1 SAC)	0	0	0
Carson-Newman (5-2, 4-0 SAC)	1	0	1

Match Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Eyeing its fourth 4-0 start in South Atlantic Conference action in program history, Carson-Newman welcomes Tusculum to McCown Field for a Wednesday night tussle under the lights at 7:30 p.m.

Carson-Newman (4-2, 3-0) currently holds the second-longest winning streak in the league with four, just behind a No. 4 Coker squad that has won seven straight. A win would propel the Eagles to their first 4-0 start since the 2010 campaign when they won each of their first six conference matches.

Head coach Stephen Lyons' crew is tied for first in the league with Limestone at nine points. Spanning the 2020-21 campaign to now, C-N has won eight consecutive SAC matches. The last time the program won nine straight league contests was between the 2009 and 2010 seasons, on its way to an 11 match streak.

This past Saturday's 2-1 win over Catawba marked the fourth straight match in which at least two Eagles scored goals with Harry Whitehead (Oxford, England) and Nic Carsh (Newberg, Ore.) extending the streak. All-told, nine Eagles have found the back of the net this season. Thaylan Silva (São Paulo, Brazil) leads the team with five goals and 12 points. In net, Bram Kaarsgaren (Den Bosch, The Netherlands) has used his four wins on the year to propel his career win's tally to 20, good enough for fourth-most in team history. He is one start away from taking sole possession of sixth place on the goalkeeper games started list.

Wednesday is the 39^th edition of the rivalry with Tusculum (1-4-1, 0-2-1) with C-N trailing the overall series 14-18-6. It has gone unbeaten in the past three meetings since a loss in the SAC Tournament semifinals in 2018, falling 2-0. Since then, the Orange and Blue have held a 7-1 scoring advantage.

Carson-Newman swept Tusculum in pod play during the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign, winning both matches 3-0. The last installment of the derby saw C-N pick up its first win at Pioneer Field since Oct. 27, 2015. Harrison Collins put C-N on the board in the 41st minute. Quick giveaways between Matheus Maia (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Benjamin Stein (Berlin, Germany) left the ball at the feet of Collins. He split between a pair of Pioneers to push forward his first career goal. The Eagles struck again after a free kick by Theo Hardenby Öhrwall (Helsingborg, Sweden) landed inside the right side of the six-yard box, finding the head of a leaping Harry Whitehead to put the unit up 2-0. Silva jumped onto the scoring carousel in the 56th minute. Ben King (Hertfordshire, England) passed off a forward dish that Carsh quickly collected. His cross to an open Silva was launched right past Tusculum's Joao Kozlowski, giving C-N the deciding 3-0 advantage. In each of his three trips to Pioneer Field, Silva has left with a goal in-hand. C-N outshot Tusculum 16-11 with Whitehead leading all players with six attempts, five on goal.

Tusculum is in the midst of a four-match winless streak, losing back-to-back matches. Its last win came on Sept. 7 with a 4-2 decision at Lees-McRae. Since then, the group has been outscored 11-3.

Head coach Allen Vital, currently in his 11^th season at the helm of his alma mater's program, leads a group currently tied for the bottom spot of the conference table with one point, holding an 0-2-1 record. They have not won a conference match since a 2-0 decision in the 2020-21 finale against Lincoln Memorial.

Ignacio Alconchel has stacked the stat sheet for the Pioneers this season, leading the team in just about every category possible. Starting in all six matches, he has accounted for five if the team's eight goals, scoring 10 points on 20 shot attempts with nine of frame, netting the only game-winning goal the team has seen. The junior forward is fourth in the league for goals while his 3.00 shots per game are fourth. When playing against SAC teams, he has gotten 14 shots off his boot with five on goal.

Bruno De freitas has played in goal all season for Tusculum, allowing 15 goals with 26 saves and a .634 saving clip and one shutout. His 4.33 saves per game are third in the SAC. In league matches, he has allowed seven goals.

Tusculum is tied for the lead in the conference and third nationally for red cards this year with four while sitting fourth with yellow card bookings at 17. It has lined up for 6.17 corners per match, second in the SAC to Carson-Newman.

The lone 2021 Spring All-SAC pick for the Pioneers, Damien Baltide, returns this season after leading the group with three goals and three assists for nine points. He has started in all six matches for Tusculum this season but has yet to see a goal scored. He has attempted the second-most shots on the team with 10, four on frame.

Wednesday's rivalry match is slated for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff from McCown Field. A live broadcast of the evening's proceedings can be found at cneagles.com/live with in-match updates from @CN_Eagles on Twitter.