Stenberg's Late Goal Helps Lions Ground Eagles
JOHNSON CITY, TENN. – The Mars Hill men’s soccer team squandered a two-goal lead, but showed much resiliency in a 3-2 win over Carson-Newman on Wednesday, September 21 at McCown Field.
JOHNSON CITY, TENN. – The Mars Hill men's soccer team squandered a two-goal lead, but showed much resiliency in a 3-2 win over Carson-Newman on Wednesday, September 21 at McCown Field. The Lions even their overall record at 3-3, while improving their conference record to 2-1. C-N drops to 4-2 overall and 1-1 within the league.
The Lions were aggressive early, putting the Eagles on their heels with stellar passing and tenacious defense. However, it would not pay off until late in the first half.
With the score still deadlocked at zero, Ian Wu sent a beautiful pass into the box during off of a free kick in the 34th minute to set up Oscar Mitchell with the first score of the game. With momentum, Stian Sanner took the role of catalyst just two minutes later, finding Franck Lannaud in front of the keeper to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.
Carson-Newman was able to cut that lead in half on a goal by Polyminos Avgousti that just slipped by the outstretched hands of keeper Kristofer Wennin. Mars Hill took the 2-1 lead into the break.
The second half mirrored the first as both teams were presented opportunities, but neither could cash in. Mars Hill's defense was very good keeping the potent Eagles offense at bay, while clinging to a 2-1 lead.
Carson-Newman was able to score the equalizer in the 81st minute following an errant pass by the Lions.
With essentially a new match at hand the Lions offense went into attack mode, not wanting to go into a dreaded overtime frame. That mentality paid off in the 88th minute as Mitchell sent a ball into the box that found the right boot of Thor-Joakim Stenberg for the go-ahead and eventual game-winner.
Carson-Newman was heavily favored in shots, collecting 21, 10 on goal, to Mars Hill's 12 and six on goal. Wennin finished the afternoon with eight saves to pick up his third win of the season.
The Lions will be back in action on Saturday, September 24 as they travel to Brevard, N.C. to take on the Tornado. First strike on the pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
