HARROGATE, Tenn. – Able to compete at the LMU Soccer Complex for the first time in five appearances on the 2021 schedule, the Lincoln Memorial University women's soccer club ensured it would be an auspicious home debut by pulling off a regular season sweep over arch-rival Carson-Newman in Harrogate, downing the Eagles by a 2-1 clip on Tuesday evening.

Matching the exact same final score as in their previous meeting against C-N four and a half weeks earlier, albeit with no overtime periods on this occasion, the Lady Railsplitters captured their fourth victory of the season, while in the process taking a one-point lead over the rest of the South Atlantic Conference as the finale approaches 48 hours from now.

Junior forward Rachel Taylor and senior goalie Emanuely Costa proved to be the heroes for LMU (4-0-1, 4-0-1 SAC) down the stretch, as the former recorded multiple goals in the same match for the third time in her career, while the latter gathered nine saves to help overcome a 12-2 shot discrepancy in the Eagles' favor over the final 45 minutes.

As the team's 2-0 lead vanished into a one-score difference almost as quickly as it arose, Head Coach Matthew Carr's group kept Carson-Newman at bay long enough to grab his second win in as many tries over his former institution.

Things were nearly identical offensively for both squads throughout the first half, although the difference came from the foot of Taylor off a beautifully-placed assist from nearly halfway across the field by Lexi Bearden to draw first blood with 36 minutes gone. In what proved to be the last of the blue and gray's eight shot attempts over the course of the half, the junior made it count with her fourth strike of 2021, while her fifth wasn't too far off.

Carson-Newman entered the final stretch with an assertive attack, managing 10 more shot opportunities than their blue and gray counterparts after the intermission. While LMU may have only fired off a pair of shots over the last 45 minutes, Taylor's next opening for a goal would gash the Eagles again, zooming past C-N keeper Lilly Ebner at the 58:24 mark of the contest to go ahead 2-0. Defender Alda Tarrado was the assist culprit on this occasion to put the blue and gray in front by a deuce.

In a surprising turnaround, Taylor's 14^th career goal served as the final shot of the entire night for the Lady Railsplitters, who had to rely on their defensive unit to squeeze out their third straight win. Despite one minor hiccup 118 seconds after their second score, they would achieve just that.

Thanks to their ultra-aggressive offensive movement over the second half, which contributed to a 19-10 shot advantage in total and a 4-1 corner kick discrepancy, Carson-Newman trimmed the lead in half just a blink after facing their largest deficit of the year.

One of those corner kick opportunities off the leg of Molly Bukiewicz translated into a score, headed in by defender Lira Mathes in her only shot try of the entire 90-minute bout.

Luckily for Costa and the Lady Railsplitters, the senior GK halted five other C-N tiebreaking attempts throughout the last 31 minutes of play, including a game-saving penalty kick denial with just five minutes on the clock.

In a far cry from the two teams' first meeting in late February, where the Lady Railsplitters amassed eight more shot tries and became the aggressor after a 1-0 halftime hole, the roles reversed in the rematch on Tuesday, as nine different Eagles tallied at least one look at the net.

None of Carson-Newman's chances to even the score were larger than Addie Henry's PK boot at the 84:59 stamp that was snuffed out by the leg of Costa to preserve the 2-1 difference.

Jente Kuper gave the Eagles their last gasp with 98 seconds left until the horn in another shot attempt preemptively blocked by Costa to hang on to the victory. LMU successfully pulled out the W in somewhat of an anomaly based on the rest of their 2021 performances, gaining the win despite being outshot for the first time in five go-arounds.

All but four of the Lady Railsplitters' looks at the net were via Taylor, who has accounted for 62% of the team's scores this spring, while the other 38% stands from classmate Jessica Cravero.

After capturing the season sweep over C-N, LMU holds a firm lead over Pod 3 in the updated South Atlantic Conference standings with a lead of at least four points over the other three schools in the division, including Mars Hill and Tusculum. The Lady Railsplitters' 13 points overall currently sit as one higher than Catawba, Queens, and Limestone for the top spot in the conference, while Lenoir-Rhyne rounds out the list of league schools who have accumulated a point total of double digits.

Thanks to a record of 4-0-1 awaiting the regular season finale, LMU has put themselves in a tremendous position to host an opening round bout of the league tournament, to begin exactly four days after wrapping up the schedule against Tusculum this Thursday in Harrogate.
 
Up Next
 
Through five matches, the only "blemish" on LMU's resume was their second outing of the year against the Pioneers in Greeneville, Tenn. back on March 3^rd, where both teams were forced to end things unresolved in a 1-1 tie. The Lady Railsplitters outgunned Tusculum in the shots department 19-9, but were unable to power in the golden goal after 110 minutes of action. They'll get their second chance against TU on Thursday at the LMU Soccer Complex, with first touch scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
 
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Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Lady Railsplitter soccer across the 2021 season.