September 30, 2025

C-N back at home to face Emory & Henry

Carson-Newman (1-5-2, 1-2 SAC) returns home to begin October as it welcomes Emory & Henry (2-3-2, 1-1-1 SAC) to McCown Field for a South Atlantic Conference contest on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.

Emory & Henry

3-3-2, 2-1-1

Carson-Newman

1-6-2, 1-3-0

Final	1	2	T
Emory & Henry (3-3-2, 2-1-1)	0	1	1
Carson-Newman (1-6-2, 1-3-0)	0	0	0

C-N Match Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (1-5-2, 1-2 SAC) returns home to begin October as it welcomes Emory & Henry (2-3-2, 1-1-1 SAC) to McCown Field for a South Atlantic Conference contest on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.

Carson-Newman held off a late rally from Newberry on Saturday to collect its first win of the season. The road win ended a nine-game winless stretch away from home. Now, the Eagles begin the month of October at home and play four of their final seven games at McCown Field. C-N has started its home slate 0-2 for the first time since 2002 when it started 0-3 at home.

Mitchell Honcoop has been one of the best goal scorers in the South Atlantic Conference this season. The All-SAC midfielder has four goals this season, tied for second-most in the league this season. The Dutchmen now has 11 goals in his career, tied for most among active Eagles. His goals this season have come in back-to-back games, having scored in consecutive games for the third time in his career.

No player in the South Atlantic Conference has more saves than goalkeeper Elijah Buford. The junior's 33 stops are most in the SAC, and six more than any other goalkeeper in the league. That mark also ranks 23rd nationally. Despite those rankings, Buford and C-N are still looking for their first clean sheet this season.

Carson-Newman is undefeated in its three all-time meetings versus Emory & Henry. The theme in the three wins has been scoring three goals, something the Eagles have done in all three victories. The past two victories have been 3-0 finals, including E&H's only trip to Jefferson City on September 20, 2023. Scoring multiple goals has also led to much success for head coach Stephen Lyons' led teams. The only win this year is the only time they have scored multiple times and they are 55-3-8 under the ninth-year head coach when scoring two or more goals in a game.

Emory & Henry's 2025 season has been all about firsts. The Wasps entered this season winless in their first 45 matches as a DII program and decided to bring in a new head coach, hiring Ali Al-Gashamy who was previously leading Limestone. During his time with the Saints, he amassed a 37-11-10 record. He hit his stride with the Saints in his final two seasons, going 31-5-5 and ranking top five nationally. Al-Gashamy took the Saints to Elite Eight in 2023 and the Sweet 16 this past season

Al-Gashamy has began turning around the E&H men's soccer program in 2025. After losing three straight close matches to begin the year, the Wasps defeated Virginia State on September 17th to win their first game at the DII level, ending a 49-game winless streak. One week ago, E&H snapped yet another streak. It defeated Lenoir-Rhyne at home 4-2, ending a 34-game losing streak to begin the tenure in the South Atlantic Conference. The win marked E&H's first conference win of any kind since October 22, 2016 when it was a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

The Wasps have four points in three SAC games, the aforementioned win over Lenoir-Rhyne, a one-goal loss to #4 Anderson and most recently a tie with Mars Hill on Sunday. Wednesday's match will be just E&H's third road match of the season. It has lost eight straight road matches, the third-longest active streak in DII. It's last road win was at the DIII level, defeating Earlham 1-0 on September 5th, 2021.

E&H owns the fourth-best scoring offense in the league with ten goals scored. Seven different players have scored, with three players leading the way with two goals each. Four players have a team-high five points for a Wasps club that averages the third-most corner kicks per game nationally.

First touch from McCown Field is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network is available with a subscription to FloSports.