September 14, 2025

Early Catawba goals doom C-N in SAC opener

Carson-Newman (0-2-2, 0-1 SAC) was unable to overcome two early goals from Catawba (3-1, 1-0 SAC), falling in its home and South Atlantic Conference opener Saturday night 2-1 at McCown Field.

Catawba

3-1-0, 1-0-0

Carson-Newman

0-2-2, 0-1-0

Final	1	2	T
Catawba (3-1-0, 1-0-0)	2	0	2
Carson-Newman (0-2-2, 0-1-0)	0	1	1

VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman (0-2-2, 0-1 SAC) was unable to overcome two early goals from Catawba (3-1, 1-0 SAC), falling in its home and South Atlantic Conference opener Saturday night 2-1 at McCown Field.

"We know in South Atlantic Conference play that if you make mistakes, you will get punished," Carson-Newman head coach Stephen Lyons said. "A couple poor defensive breakdowns. Overall, I thought Catawba was the better team. We were outmatched in this contest."

Catawba's one goal victory is its first in the series with C-N since 2016, also the last time it has won in Mossy Creek. 10 of the past 11 meetings now have been decided by one goal or less.

An early mistake was made by C-N and Catawba took advantage. The conference's top goal scorer Mate Kenyeres intercepted a pass and slotted a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner to start the scoring in the 6th minute.

Less than a minute after the restart, the Indians would strike again. Giovanni Benericetti fired a ball behind the Eagles defense, and Tomas Kelly got to it first, and flicked a left-footed shot into the back of the net to make it a 2-0 Catawba advantage, just seven minutes into the contest.

Carson-Newman took three shots after the Catawba goals. Tim Haans (Tilburg, Netherlands) sent a shot on frame, seeing Catawba goalkeeper Hector Vara make the save. Two other shots came shortly after but were off target from Ben Dukes (Southampton, England) and Rhydian Williams (Conwy, Wales).

The Indians stayed relentless with its attack in the opening half. Three different players sent shots on frame, but Elijah Buford (Atlanta, Ga.) made a save on each to keep the Eagles within two.

Buford would make a fourth save in the 41st minute, and C-N trailed 2-0 at intermission.

Into the second half, Catawba maintained its momentum. The Indians took the first six shots of the half, but only saw one hit the target and Buford notched his fifth save to keep the deficit at 2 in the 55th minute.

C-N would begin to maintain more possession and it would lead to chances forward. Maxime Wester (Brussel, Belgium) rocketed a shot toward Vara who collected his second save.

Shortly after that attempt, the Eagles went back on the attack and it a foul on Wester set up a free kick. Mitchell Honcoop took the free kick, and booted a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner to bring C-N within a goal in the 68th minute.

Carson-Newman's defense continued to stay strong and Buford kept responding with stops. He made a pair of saves in the 70th and 71st minutes to keep the score 2-1.

Unfortunately for C-N, it attempted just one shot in the final 20 minutes, a shot off target from Wester in the 75th minute. Possession in the attacking third was gained, but never did it lead to a good attempt to equalize.

Catawba outshot C-N 19-9, and held a 9-3 advantage with shots on goals. There was also a significant advantage in corner kicks, 7-2 Catawba.

The Eagles are back on the road next week, starting Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. eastern time versus Auburn Montgomery.