Video: Nellie Bryneus Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Looking to make it seven straight in the series, Carson-Newman women's soccer welcomed in the Anderson (S.C.) Trojans for a Saturday showdown from McCown Field. The freshman duo of Nellie Bryneus (Halmstad, Sweden) and Sydnee Duncan (Athens, Tenn.) once again felt right at home for the Eagles as they netted a goal apiece to give the Eagles a crucial 2-0 win and three points in 2021 SAC play.
Since head coach Simon Duffy took over in 2017, when playing in the friendly confines of McCown Field, the Eagles are 29-6-4. When playing the SAC at home, Carson-Newman holds a 21-6-2 record under Duffy since 2017.
"All positives. Best first half we've played this season and it was a major goal for us heading into the match," Carson-Newman coach Simon Duffy said. "I think we dominated as we wanted to and yes, maybe second half, we may not have scored but the chances we created makes me overall impressed with a lot of the players."
With Saturday's result, the series history now moves to 12-7-1 all-time in favor of the Eagles as they have not lost to Anderson from McCown Field since November 2014. Overall, the Eagles are 6-3 when playing at home against the Trojans, outscoring them 32-12 from McCown Field.
Saturday saw the action get started in the blink of an eye. As the Eagles tried to keep their second half momentum from the match against Shaw rolling, they came out desiring to make it 1-0 early on.
For the first time since November 2018, an Eagle scored in the first minute of action as Nellie Bryneus found herself at the end of an assist by junior Addie Henry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) only 33 seconds into the match before netting the goal and giving C-N the early 1-0 lead. This was also the first time since September 2019 that an Eagle has scored in the first five minutes. Both previous occurrences for Carson-Newman came from former All-American Magda Mosengo.
"It was really nice to get the chance to give us a lead early," Bryneus said. "I think this team needs to continue to come together and fight as one because yes, we won tonight but we know we can still perform better and build upon tonight."
The scoring would not cease for Carson-Newman as an attempt in the 25th minute was completed by freshman Sydnee Duncan off a beautiful corner taken by graduate student Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.). This would allow Futrell to notch her 81st career point which just helps build her place as sixth-most for a CNWS player in program history.
As Duncan netted the goal off the corner, this is the third time this season that the Eagles have scored off a corner as the last instance came in the game-winning goal over Tusculum by senior Jente Kuper (Ottersberg, Germany). The only other instance for the Eagles to score off a corner was in their 2-1 win over Belmont Abbey as sophomore Abbie Zander (Baneberry, Tenn.) found the back of the net.
At the halftime whistle on Saturday, Carson-Newman was completely dominating the play on the pitch as they held a 16-4 shot advantage with nine shots on goal. This is the second highest first half shot attempts for the Eagles as they held 17 shot attempts in their 2-1 victory over the Belmont Abbey Crusaders earlier in the year. Of the four Trojans shot attempts in the first 45, all four were on goal, including four athletes holding a single shot attempt each.
In the first half of all 2021 matches, Carson-Newman has outshot opponents 85-55 as opponents have been lucky to outscore the Eagles 10-6 thus far.
The Eagles have consistently seen the second half be where they find most of their success. In the second half on Saturday, the Eagles continued to put their foot on the gas as they came out in hopes of making the win almost inevitable. However, the effort was a lot more evident by Anderson as they fought hard to find their first goal against Carson-Newman since 2014.
However, Carson-Newman stayed strong as they quickly picked up their effort, including a phenomenal effort by Futrell in the 65th minute as she had a one-timer set up for her by fellow graduate student Kristina Markfort (Munster, Germany) but Futrell could not finish the effort off and move ahead of former C-N assistant Jules Herrity with 35 career goals.
"An early goal like what Nellie gave us just gets us going. We want to start off on a positive note and it's not really a secret for how we've played in the first half this season," Duffy said. "I'm so glad we were able to come out today and get it done because it's three massive points as we're climbing the table and have quick recovery before heading to LMU on Wednesday."
Once the final whistle blew, Carson-Newman finished the night with the 24-6 shot advantage including 13 shots on goal compared to Anderson having five out of their six attempts on goal.
The Eagles saw their shot total led by the efforts of Bryneus, who finished her night with five shot attempts and four shots on goal. Meanwhile, Sydnee Duncan helped out her fellow freshman as she added a pair of shot attempts on the night, both being shots on goal.
Graduate student Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.) came into Saturday after notching herself further into CNWS program history for her efforts on Wednesday. As she was credited with a pair of assists in the 2-0 win over Shaw, Futrell moved herself into sixth all-time for career points at 80. As mentioned above, she was able to add another assist on the week as she took the corner to set up Duncan's 25th minute goal. This now puts Futrell at 81 career points, a mere 17 points behind former All-American Lauren Wade who finished with 98 career points.
Futrell also fired off four more shot attempts, moving her to have 240 shot attempts in her career which is two behind Wade as well. Of her 240 shot attempts, 109 have been shots on goal which is the fifth most for a Carson-Newman women's soccer play in program history.
Starting in the net for Carson-Newman for the first time since giving up four goals in a half to Catawba on Sept. 25 would be sophomore Lilly Ebner (Hohentengen, Germany). Ebner had started in the first seven matches for Duffy and his staff, but after giving up four goals in the matter of minutes, they decided to give her a rest until this point of the season.
Ebner stepped up to the challenge and seemed like her old self as she made four saves in the first 45 minutes of action to keep the Trojans off the board and keep the clean sheet. Once the second half started, Ebner was called upon to make one more save as she and the Eagles defense collected their second straight shutout of the week.
After Saturday, Ebner stands with 32 saves, a GAA of 1.29 and has played a role in all three C-N shutouts this season. The Germany native also has seen a 5-2-2 record under her belt as she possesses a save percentage of .744 as part of the overall .719 save percentage for C-N goalkeepers this year.
Meanwhile, Anderson was led by Haley Sanneman with her two shot attempts as both were on goal. Beyond Sanneman's efforts, four other Trojans had one shot apiece as only Lina Powell would see a shot attempt not become a shot on goal against the C-N defense.
In between the pipes for Anderson would be a formidable piece of their defense, Jeannette Campbell. Entering Saturday, Campbell held the most overall saves for any SAC goalkeeper with 71, including the second-most SAC play saves with 44. Campbell also held a GAA of 1.36 and only allowed 12 goals in eight matches of action.
Saturday saw Campbell get the start again for Anderson. In the match, she was put into action quickly as she allowed the quickest goal for C-N this season when Bryneus put the breakaway chance in the back of the net. Campbell could not find a way to stop Duncan's effort off the corner as she allowed both goals in the 2-0 loss. However, Campbell was able to build upon her lead in saves as she made 11 saves off 13 shots on goal for the Eagles.
Carson-Newman will now go on the road for a two game homestand, starting with an ole East Tennessee tussle against the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters on Wednesday. The Eagles and Railsplitters played twice in the spring season as LMU took both meetings including a crucial 2-1 double OT win to start the year from McCown Field.
"We have to give them the respect they deserve and we have to play like we did today," Duffy said. "I thought we played on the front foot and attacked with desire and want. Emilee could have gotten a couple and Abbie could have done the same. No knock because there was a lot less frustration today and I'm delighted with the win."
Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. from Harrogate on Wednesday as the Eagles and Railsplitters get set for the 31st meeting between the two programs as Carson-Newman holds the overall 18-10-2 series lead.
Lincoln Memorial will come into Wednesday after a back-and-forth battle against the Wingate Bulldogs early Saturday afternoon. It would be the Bulldogs taking home a 3-2 overtime victory as Brianna Ditillo netted the game-winner only 45 seconds into the first overtime period.
Live in-game video will be provided by the athletics staff at Lincoln Memorial at this link along with live in-game stats provided at this link and live-in game update provided via Twitter from @CN_Eagles.
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