Eagles wrap up regular season with trip to Hickory
November 2, 2021

Eagles wrap up regular season with trip to Hickory

HICKORY, N.C. - Days after claiming their 11th regular season conference championship, the Carson-Newman men's soccer team head to the Tar Heel state to wrap up the regular season with a match against #21 Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday, Nov. 3

MATCH NOTES

VIDEO: Game Story - Carson-Newman Men's Soccer vs Limestone

HICKORY, N.C. - Days after claiming their 11th regular season conference championship, the Carson-Newman men's soccer team head to the Tar Heel state to wrap up the regular season with a match against #21 Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday, Nov. 3.

Carson-Newman (11-3, 9-1 SAC) defeated #11 Limestone on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2-0 on a rainy night at McCown Field. After both teams were held scoreless in the first half, Tim Vercelli broke the scoring open for the Eagles with his second career goal after an assist by Yannick Kranz just three minutes into the second half. In the 70th minute, Harry Whitehead used his head to score off a corner kick from Thaylan Silva to put Carson-Newman up 2-0. A save on a Limestone penalty kick by Bram Kaarsgaren in the 77th minute iced the contest and gave the Eagles the championship shutout win. 

"We knew Limestone was going to be a tough team with a lot of good players," says head men's soccer coach Stephen Lyons. "The conditions were tough for both sides and we played some good football despite the surface. We got opportunites and pounced on them and the guys on the bench and even the guys that didn't even get to play kept the energy up all night."
 
For his efforts, Kaarsgaren was named SAC defensive player of the week for the second time this season and a program record seventh time of his career. Kaarsgaren has recorded six saves in back-to-back matches. His 51 saves this season are the fifth most in the SAC. Kaarsgaren is now recording a save percentage of .797, first in the SAC and 26th in the nation. His goals against average of 0.98 currently ranks as the eighth best in program history and 46th in the nation.
 
 
Despite seeing his goal scoring streak end against the Saints, Silva continues to move up the record books. His assist against Limestone was Silva's nineteenth of his career, tying Robert Hill for fourth most in program history. Silva's three shots in the game gave him 168 for his career, moving him into the top-10 most shots all-time.
 
Carson-Newman is 0-2-2 under Stephen Lyons in the month of November. The last match the Eagles played in November was a 5-1 loss to Coker in the 2019 SAC Quarterfinals on Nov. 9, 2019. The Eagles are also 3-4-1 against ranked opponents under Lyons, with just one win coming on the road, a 1-0 double overtime win over #15 Coker on Oct. 12, 2019.
 
In league matchups, the Eagles have gone 153-90-23 overall with a 72-40-14 record in regular season road matches since 1990.
 
This is the 41st meeting between the Eagles and the Bears. C-N leads the overall series 21-17-2. The two teams did not play during the 2021 spring season, the first season since 1989 they have not played against each other. L-R has won four of the last five matches, outscoring the Eagles 12-7.
 
Carson-Newman has not won in Hickory since Oct. 4, 2014 when the Eagles won 4-0. The offensive output by the Eagles is the second-most amount of goals they have scored at Lenoir-Rhyne in the series. The Bears and Eagles fought to a 4-4 tie on Oct. 5, 1994. 
 
C-N did not record a win against Lenoir-Rhyne in the first nine matchups with the Bears, going 0-8-1 and being outscored 33-10. Since then, C-N has gone 21-9-1 in the series, outscoring L-R 72-33.
 
This is the latest meeting in the regular season between the two rivals since Nov. 3, 2004, seventeen years to the day, in Jefferson City. Carson-Newman went on to win the match 4-0.

Lenoir-Rhyne ranks #21 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll for all of Division II. The Bears started the season ranked #8 in the country in the preseason polls. The last time the Bears and Eagles played with one of the combatants ranked in the national polls was Sept. 20, 2017 when Carson-Newman defeated #5 Lenoir-Rhyne 1-0 in Mossy Creek. It is the highest ranked opponent the Eagles have beaten under coach Stephen Lyons.

"We want to keep up the winning momentum," says Lyons. "Lenoir-Rhyne is a very good team and are high in the conference rankings."

The Bears (9-4-1, 6-3-1 SAC) has won two straight matches, a 2-1 win in overtime over #20 Chowaon Oct. 27 and a 2-0 win over Wingate on Oct. 30. The Bears are 4-1-1 over their last six matches, outscoring opponents 12-4.
 
This is the third straight home match for Lenoir-Rhyne, the second three-match home streak for the Bears. Lenoir-Rhyne had home matches vs LMU on Oct. 2, Catawba on Oct. 6 and Queens on Oct. 9. The Bears went 2-1 during that stretch, outscoring opponents 11-5
 
Lenoir-Rhyne sits at third-place in the SAC standings with 19 points. With a win, the Bears can clinch the three seed in the SAC Tournament.
 
L-R ranks seventh in the SAC in goals scored with 28. The Bears are averaging exactly 2.00 goals a match this season. Lenoir-Rhyne ranks second in the conference in shots per game, averaging 16.2 shots a match. The Bears defense sits at third in the SAC behind Carson-Newman in goals allowed, allowing just 16 goals this season. Opponents are averaging just 1.11 goals a match against L-R this year. 
 
Noah Tiefel leads L-R with seven goals this season, tied for seventh most in the SAC. Tiefel leads the Bears in points with 18 and has scored three game-winning goals for the Bears this season. 
 
The Bears have won three SAC Offensive Player of the Week awards this season. Tiefel earned the award on Sept. 28 after scoring a hat-trick against Anderson. Victor Cascon won the award the next week, Oct. 4, after scoring the game-winning goal against Coker.Cascon leads the Bears in shots with 34, with 19 of them on goal. Nicolas Bohigues won the honor this week, Nov. 2, after recording an assist vs #20 Chowan and scoring the game-winner against Wingate. 
 
This is the third straight match that the Eagles have faced a SAC Player of the Week. Carson-Newman defeated Coker 3-1 the week after Bastiaan Jager was named defensive player of the week on Oct. 19 and defeated Limestone 2-0 the week after Johann Hipper was named defensive player of the week on Oct. 26. 
 
Coverage begins at 7:30 P.M. on the Bears Sports Network. Links to a live video stream and stats can be found at cneagles.com. Fans can also follow along on the new home of Carson-Newman athletics on Twitter for updates at @CN_Eagles. 
 
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