GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Despite playing a man down for much of the second half, Tusculum University used an offensive onslaught to rout Carson-Newman University 4-1 in South Atlantic Conference men's soccer action Wednesday night at Pioneer Field.
Goals 10 minutes apart spanning halftime by Linus Salomonsen and Damien Baltide were followed by goals in a four-minute stretch of the second half from Michele Di Miele and Ignacio Alconchel on Senior Night for the Pioneers (2-7-5, 2-5-4 SAC), who outshot the Eagles (7-4-5, 5-2-4 SAC) by a 20-6 margin to finish the season with results in five of their final six matches (2-1-3).
Carson-Newman, which would have clinched a share of the SAC regular season championship with a victory, fell to 1-3-1 in its last five matches and lost for the first time at Pioneer Field since Oct. 12, 2011. Quinten Carels scored the only goal of the match in the 58th minute after Tusculum had already taken a 2-0 lead.
Tusculum controlled the first half, outshooting Carson-Newman by a 10-0 margin. However, the first shot on goal from the Pioneers came in the 27th minute as Alconchel broke in behind the defense but had his shot turned away by Eagle keeper Darrin de Meza.
Baltide would miss the near post from 15 yards away in the 37th minute, and de Meza would make the best save of the night in the 39th minute as he kicked away a blast from 15 yards straight on by Lars Schutrups.
Tusculum would finally break through with 4:19 left in the first half as a corner kick from Baltide caromed in the box to Salomonsen, who beat de Meza to the short side for his first goal of the season. Less than a minute later, Pedro Concheso had a chance from 15 yards that was played away by de Meza, and the Pioneers carried their 1-0 lead to intermission.
The Pioneers went up 2-0 at 50:05 as Baltide carried the ball from his end all the way down the right side into the box, where he chipped a shot over a falling de Meza for his third goal of the season.
Carson-Newman had its first three shot attempts in a span of less than a minute after Baltide's goal, but Tusculum keeper Bruno De Freitas tipped a volley from Niels Buurman over the crossbar and deflected a header from Eric Schmutzer wide of the goal.
Tusculum would be sent a man down after a foul in the Carson-Newman end at 55:36, and it would take just two minutes for Carson-Newman to take advantage. A long pass from Issac Pascal went to Carels, who beat De Freitas to the top of the box and rolled a shot inside the far post for his first of the season at 57:54.
The Pioneers shrugged off the misfortune and went up 3-1 at 65:43 as a corner from Cristobal Morales was headed in by Di Miele for his first goal of the season. Just over four minutes later, a hand ball in the box on a shot by Concheso resulted in a penalty kick, which Alconchel converted for his sixth of the year and a 4-1 lead at 69:51.
Concheso nearly had a goal of his own in the 78th minute as he broke in free behind the defense, but his shot from 10 yards was smothered by de Meza. Lucas Romeiro also had a chance in the 82nd minute, but de Meza dove to his right to knock down the 25-yard attempt.
With 41 seconds left, Carson-Newman would be awarded a penalty kick after a foul in the box, but the Eagles' Jannik Schulte missed high of the crossbar on the last shot attempt of the match.
Tusculum was called for 17 fouls to 11 by Carson-Newman, and the Pioneers were shown six of the eight cards in the match. Both teams earned seven corner kicks, with all seven for the Eagles coming in the second half.
De Freitas finished the match with three saves for the Pioneers, while de Meza had five saves for Carson-Newman.
