November 4, 2025

Eagles and Pioneers meet in a rivalry showdown to close regular season

Carson-Newman (7-4-3, 3-3-3 SAC) gears up for its regular season finale tomorrow evening at McCown Field when it welcomes in Tusculum (8-4-1, 5-3 SAC) for a rivalry clash.

Tusculum

8-7-2, 5-4-1

Carson-Newman

8-4-3, 4-3-3

Final	1	2	T
Tusculum (8-7-2, 5-4-1)	0	0	0
Carson-Newman (8-4-3, 4-3-3)	2	2	4

VIDEO: Simon Duffy Interview

C-N Match Notes (PDF)

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman (7-4-3, 3-3-3 SAC) gears up for its regular season finale tomorrow evening at McCown Field when it welcomes in Tusculum (8-4-1, 5-3 SAC) for a rivalry clash.

Carson-Newman is in the South Atlantic Conference tournament but its seed is still undetermined. The Eagles enter their regular season finale in sole possession of seventh place, and can only move up with a victory. A win would push C-N up to 15 points and in a tie for sixth place with Wingate and Coker. Those two teams play each other on Wednesday as well. The Eagles would need a win and a Wingate loss to move up to sixth place.

"Looking forward to seeing the girls compete once again," Carson-Newman head coach Simon Duffy said. "We've been doing that very well this season and we've just come up short in a few games. Delighted with our finish against Anderson in our last outing. To finish off a regular season with a massive rivalry like this puts more emphasis on us showing up, wanting to play and compete against a Tusculum team that is having a great season."

Molly Bukiewicz has been superb in her final season along the banks of Mossy Creek. The graduate student is tied for third in the SAC with nine goals. Her fantastic season has come with remarkable efficiency. Her nine goals have been scored on just 23 shots, scoring on 39 percent of shots this season. She has scored in each of Carson-Newman's seven wins this season. Bukiewicz will have one final regular season match to try and reach double-digit goals and would the first player to reach that mark since Magda Mosengo in 2018.

The Eagles are 3-2-2 at McCown Field this season but are winless in home SAC games. Two of their four home conference games have ended in ties.

Carson-Newman currently owns a seven-match unbeaten streak against the Pioneers, with wins in six of the last seven games. C-N has won 10 of the past 12 meetings and half of those wins are by multiple goals. Carson-Newman's past two wins in this series have been games in which it has trailed early.

In 2023, the Eagles went down 2-0 in the first 26 minutes of the match. The comeback victory was the first time in more than 15 years that Carson-Newman won a game when down two goals. The win is just the seventh under Duffy when C-N allows the first goal of the match.

In this past season's meeting, C-N trailed by a goal less than a minute into the game. Bukiewicz and Jud would help rally the Eagles as the duo combined for three goals over the next 57 minutes of the match to secure the 3-1 win in Greeneville.

Tusculum enters the regular season finale with an 8-6-2 overall record and a 5-3-1 mark in league games. The Pioneers enter Wednesday's match with 16 points in the league, good for a tie in third place with Anderson. TU does not own that tiebreaker, so it would need to finish 1 point or better than AU to finish in third. Tusculum is just one point ahead of Coker and Wingate. The Pioneers can't finish any lower than fifth.

Head coach Vanessa Fyffe's team has been playing some excellent soccer as of late. They head to Mossy Creek having won four of their last five games, with the only loss coming last time out to Lenoir-Rhyne. That was a game that it tied LR multiple times before eventually falling 3-2. TU's league wins are over Wingate, Mars Hill, Emory & Henry, Coker and Newberry.

Mainly as a reserve, Carme Escamilla leads the Pioneers offense with six goals in just two starts this season. She is coming off her second multi-goal game of the season. Several others contribute to an offense that averages almost two goals per game. Sydney Grant has five goals and Addison Rishling has four goals and four assists. Marin Wills and Marja Enste each have four goals as well. Wilma Axelsson leads the team with her six assists, tied for fourth-most in the SAC.

Noemie Tartrou has started 13 of the 16 games in goal for TU this season and in all of its conference games. She allows nearly two goals per match but leads the conference with her 71 saves. She saves 74 percent of shots and has a 6-5-2 record as the team's starting goalkeeper. Overall, the Pioneers have four shutouts this season and three of them are in SAC play.

First touch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. from McCown Field. Coverage is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/floWsoc.