TIGERVILLE, S.C. – A four-goal spurt from Tobias Solem Karlsen in the first 20 minutes of action paved the way for a wire-to-wire offensive onslaught for Carson-Newman in a dominating 7-0 win over North Greenville on Friday night at Pepsi Stadium.
"We got off to a hot start with Tobias' goals which seemed to put North Greenville on its back foot," Carson-Newman coach Stephen Lyons said. "I thought we did not keep the tempo as high going into the second half. We talked about it at halftime, and I think the guys responded really well. Overall, just a really good result for the team."
The senior now sits in a three-way tie with Ryan Williams and Dario Carrasco for the second-most goals in a single game in the Carson-Newman (1-0) record books. Williams scored four against USC-Aiken on Oct. 28, 1995 while Carrasco netted four against Newberry on Oct. 21, 2006
Friday marked Solem Karlsen's seventh career multi-goal game. He is eighth in program history for career goals with 26 and tied for second on the game-winning goals tally at 11 with Omar Cooke who notched that clip from 2005 to 2009. He needs just one more to tie Dario Carrasco for the most in team history.
C-N has now won five-straight season-opening matches and extended its winning streak to 7-0 in the series with North Greenville (0-1) that dates back to 2003. In that time, the Eagles have outscored the Crusaders by a whopping 32-0. The latest meeting marked the second-largest win for C-N in the series, just behind a 9-0 victory in 2004 on North Greenville's home pitch.
Solem Karlsen started his scoring onslaught in the 11th minute. A short pass from Thaylan Silva (São Paulo, Brazil) at the top of the box was sent toward NGU's netminder Noah Kendrick. The shot deflected off Kendrick and found its way to the back of the net.
First goal of the season belongs to... @tobiasSkarlsen! His shot deflects off Kendrick and C-N is up early.@CNmenssoccer 1
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) September 6, 2019
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Nearly a minute and a half later, Silva sent a shot sideways that landed at the feet of Solem Karlsen that he sent past a diving Kendrick to extend the C-N lead, 2-0.
In the 18th minute, Solem Karlsen picked up a deflection from Harrison Collins (Cardiff, Wales) toward the top of the 18-yard box that hit off the fingertips of Kendrick to notch his fourth career hat trick.
Not long after, a set-piece ended up bouncing off Kendrick's chest with Solem Karlsen close enough to nudge the ball into the net, pushing C-N's lead to 4-0 in the 19th minute.
In the early parts of the second half, Collin Hensel (Spring Hill, Tenn.) did his part to add to the offensive attack. A small dish from Collins landed within reach of Hensel. He used a juke and a stutter step to maneuver around a pair of Crusader defenders to send a shot past Dawson Martin, putting the Eagles up 5-0 in the 54th minute.
Juke move ➡️ score@ballincollin11 uses a little stutter step past a couple Crusaders to notch his fourth career goal.@CNmenssoccer 5
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) September 7, 2019
@crusaders_sports 0
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Hensel was not done there.
Roughly eight minutes later, the redshirt-junior broke past a trio of Crusaders swarming him at the top right of the 18-yard box to bulge the Orange and Blue lead at 6-0.
In the 76th minute, yet another deflection in the penalty box left the ball in open space. Will Sainsbury-Logan (Norwich, England) took ownership of the open ball with a quick flick into the net to seal the deal for the Eagles. The goal marked the first of his career.
C-N used 11 players off the bench in the game, including Hensel. Of those bench players who saw playing time, four were making their debuts in the Orange and Blue.
"We had a lot of players get minutes tonight. For Collin to come in and score twice, he did well," Lyons said. "Quite a few new guys were able to get experience at the college level today. We have to remember to keep our feet on the ground because it is not always going to be games and wins like this. This is a great way to start the season on a positive foot. We just need to go up from here."
Collins made an impact in his debut, becoming the fifth Eagles in program history to provide a trio of assists in a single game.
As a whole, C-N outshot North Greenville 36-4 with 22 of those shots coming in the second half alone.
Bram Kaarsgaren (Den Bosch, The Netherlands) and Joe Boyd (Nottingham, England) combined for the shutout but Kaargaren spent the most time on the pitch. In his debut, he made three saves in the win.
Kike Molina led the way for North Greenville with two shots, both landing on goal.
Carson-Newman lifts the lid on its home schedule Tuesday as Salem heads to town. The tussle with the Tigers is slated to begin at 2 p.m. from McCown Field. Fans who cannot make it to the game can enjoy a live broadcast of the match courtesy of the Eagle Sports Network along with live stats and in-game updates via @CNathletics on Twitter.
