HICKORY, N.C. – In a battle for third place in the 2021 SAC standings, Carson-Newman women's soccer headed to Hickory for a matchup with the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (9-4-2, 7-3 SAC) Wednesday.
The Eagles (9-3-3, 7-2-1 SAC) headed into the match with a one-point lead in the conference standings, but thanks to the 3-2 final from Bears Field, it is Lenoir-Rhyne taking the third-place seed in the upcoming SAC women's soccer tournament.
The Bears will now face off with and host the sixth-seeded Limestone Saints, who defeated Lincoln Memorial Wednesday, on Saturday in the first round of the 2021 SAC women's soccer tournament. Meanwhile, Carson-Newman will be the tournament's fourth seed and the final first round host as they welcome in the fifth-seeded Wingate Bulldogs for a Saturday showdown.
Carson-Newman were looking for their first win against the Bears since 2018 when they left Hickory with a 1-0 victory. Since then, the Bears have won two straight and are outscoring the Eagles 4-0. Under head coach Simon Duffy, the Eagles have gone 1-3-1 against Lenoir-Rhyne, including Wednesday's result.
"I think our form and mindset heading into this match were up to par, but we cost ourselves to be down at half and we just could not recover," head coach Simon Duffy said. "Yes, we got the goals we deserved but at the end of the day, we just didn't perform as we have been in recent matches and the final shows that. Now, we need to get ready for a highly competitive and talented Wingate team to come to us and know: it's win or go home. It's as simple as that."
Knowing the importance of gaining the win, it was the Eagles taking the early momentum. First, it was freshman Nellie Bryneus (Halmstad, Sweden) sending in a dangerous ball right in front of goal, but none of her teammates could find the end of the pass. However, only a couple minutes later, the Eagles broke through thanks to a freshman-to-graduate student connection.
Freshman Alisha Heiniger (Duerrenroth, Switzerland) got her foot after a Bears turnover and quickly sent the ball ahead to graduate student Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.) in the 5th minute. The Wilson, N.C. native got open space and sent the ball into the back of the net for the fourth time this season to give C-N an early and important 1-0 lead. This is Futrell's 37th career goal, tying her with former C-N All-American Lauren Wade for sixth all-time in program history.
The Eagles kept the pressure up on the Bears as through the first 15 minutes they held a slim 3-1 shot lead as attempts from Futrell, Heiniger, and junior Addie Henry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) found the stat sheet. However, in the 24th minute, Leonie Proessl secured a penalty kick and fired it to the right side of a diving Lilly Ebner to knot it 1-1.
Then, only five minutes later, the Bears took a lead after they received a free kick off a foul by Emilee Futrell. Once the ball was sent into the box, Ebner went to try and control the attempt but was not able to fully secure it as the Bears pushed the ball into the back of the net and led 2-1 with 20 minutes left in the first half. It would be Kara Gavaghan giving the Bears the 2-1 advantage.
The Bears would not be done as they went on to have a sleuth of opportunities in the 37th minute. Off a corner kick, Lenoir-Rhyne saw three shot attempts saved by Lilly Ebner before Gavaghan would be the one to find the back of the net again and make it 3-1 Bears after the first 45.
"I think we started off brightly and it was a great start for us, but errors cost us," Duffy said. "Disappointed that we couldn't cover our mistakes and we needed to take care of our silly mistakes."
The Eagles would not go away quietly as they rattled off a pair of early shots in the second half by Emilee Futrell and Addie Henry, but both would be blocked as the advantage stayed at two for the home team. Nellie Bryneus added another shot of her own in the 80th minute, but Grayson Cameron stepped up and made the save to keep the two-goal lead. However, the momentum seemed to shift but it may have been just a little too late.
After receiving a penalty kick opportunity in the 84th minute, Addie Henry stepped up to the spot to try and make it 3-2. Henry had already scored from the spot earlier this season as she would be responsible for the game-winner against Wingate as the Eagles took home a 1-0 victory from Pride Park earlier this season.
The same rang true for the junior as she netted the ball past Cameron's outstretched hands and made it 3-2 as she would now hold four goals on the season as the Eagles continued to fight back. Senior Kristina Markfort (Munster, Germany) added a shot attempt in the 87th minute but it was easy for Cameron to step in and save.
Once the final whistle blew, Carson-Newman finished the night with 14 shot attempts compared to 19 for the Bears. Of their 14 attempts, only five would be on goal for C-N while L-R maintained eight of their 19 attempts to be on goal.
Offensively, Alisha Heiniger led the Eagles with three shot attempts as one of her attempts would be on goal. Overall, no Eagle finished with more than one shot on goal on the night as part of the five total. Meanwhile, the brace-scorer of Kara Gavaghan notched five shot attempts along with teammate Allie Zueger. Of her five shot attempts, four would be shots on goal for Gavaghan.
Starting for the Eagles between the pipes would be sophomore Lilly Ebner (Hohentengen, Germany).
In regular season action, Ebner has allowed the third-fewest goals in SAC play with five goals allowed and holds the third-best goals against average with a 0.64 clip. She holds the third-highest conference save percentage with a clip of .844 while her overall save percentage of .782 lands her seventh overall. Finally, Ebner has been responsible for the second-most shutouts in SAC play (six) while being responsible for the third-most wins in conference play (six) under her belt.
Wednesday saw Ebner make some small but critical errors in the 3-2 loss, her third on the season. In Wednesday's match, the sophomore net-minder made five saves off 18 shots faced, but did allow all three goals in the first half which paid to be the difference. Wednesday also marked the first time Ebner and the Eagles defense allowed an opponent to score since their Oct. 13 matchup with Lincoln Memorial.
In between the pipes for the Bears was Cameron Grayson. So far this season, Grayson has made 14 appearances and starts this season. Grayson has allowed seven goals in conference action, the fourth fewest thus far, along with making 54 total saves which is sixth overall. Her 0.62 GAA places her fourth overall, as she holds a GAA of 0.77 against SAC opponents.
Wednesday saw the Hickory native make three saves off 13 shots faced by the Eagles. She did allow both goals that C-N scored. The Hickory native now has 57 total saves while allowing nine goals to SAC opponents in 2021.
When making the trek to Hickory, C-N currently holds a 6-10-1 record. From Hickory, the scoring has been slightly lopsided as L-R has outscored the Eagles 28-17 all-time. However, the series is now split three games apiece when action takes place in Hickory.
The Eagles now turn their attention to the start of postseason play as they will be one of the four SAC programs hosting a first round match in the 2021 SAC women's soccer tournament. After the results of Wednesday's action, it will be the Eagles holding the overall fourth seed in the SAC Tournament as they will face off with the fifth-seeded Wingate Bulldogs from McCown Field at 5 p.m. Saturday night.
"We got the result agaisnt them earlier this season and it will be a very competitive and tough match," Duffy said. "Up until our result tonight, the form and momentum for us both were strong. The performance needs to be at a better level than tonight. It's simple for the team: win or go home."
Fans who cannot make it to the banks of Mossy Creek can enjoy a live broadcast courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network by visiting cneagles.com/live and follow live in-game updates via Twitter from @CN_Eagles.
