GREENWOOD – Playing in front of the fifth-largest crowd in Van Taylor Stadium history, the Lander men’s soccer team topped Carson-Newman, 2-1, in a non-conference match on Saturday night. The Bearcats earned their 14th consecutive home win and improved to 6-0 at Van Taylor Stadium this season.
“We had to overcome a lot of different obstacles tonight,” said head coach Lee Squires. I felt like some of our [play] tonight was the best we’ve played all season. Overall, I thought the performance was great. We’re pleased with the win and we’ve got a lot to build on moving forward. This was a good night.”
The Bearcats netted the first goal of the match in the 15th minute when Sam Loftsmanuevered his way to the right of the box and sent a pass in to Sinclaire Sandy. The junior then flicked the ball forward to George Knight, who poked a shot between the legs of Eagle goalkeeper Twan Verweij for his second goal of the season.
Carson-Newman got on the board at the 57:24 mark when Tom Read curled a free kick just inside the left post to knot the match at 1-1. However, Lander would answer less than four minutes later, when Knight made a spectacular run from the right of the box down the end line. Knight’s pass in front of the net was deflected and Thibault Chretien buried a point-blank shot to put Lander back on top.
The Eagles outshot Lander 11-10 on the night, while the Bearcats attempted seven corner kicks to Carson-Newman’s three.
In goal, Aleksander Holboe made four saves and picked up his first win of the season in just his second career start.
The Bearcats had to fight off a pair of shots and an Eagle corner kick in the final four minutes, but Lander’s defense turned away all three attacks to pull out a hard-fought victory in front of the crowd of 406 fans.
Lander will be back at it on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 5:00 p.m. against Queens for Senior Day.
