Men’s Soccer Takes Down Top-Seeded Carson-Newman in South Atlantic Conference Tournament

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The Coker University men's soccer team picked up a historic win on Saturday night (Nov. 6) as they defeated Carson-Newman University in penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament.

The top-seeded Eagles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after goals in the third and fifth minute. Coker forced Carson-Newman's keeper into three saves throughout the rest of the first half, but were unable to find the back of the net and trailed by two at the halftime break.

The Cobras came out firing in the second half and cranked up the pressure on the Eagles defense, creating multiple chances in the first fifteen minutes of the second stanza. The persistence would pay off when freshman Matty Tricker capitalized on a Gustavo Palmieri corner kick into the box and reduced the deficit to just one.

Coker was not done however, as junior forward Jacques Fokam-Sandeu took matters into his own hands and pounced on an errant pass, before outmuscling a Carson-Newman defender and putting the ball past the Eagles keeper Bram Kaarsgaren to even the score at 2-2 just 42 seconds after Tricker's goal.

The two teams would trade opportunities throughout the remainder of regulation and two ten minute periods of overtime, but 110 minutes of play would not be enough to separate the two teams, necessitating a penalty shootout.

The Cobras were perfect through five rounds of penalties including conversions by Hugo Jonsson, Fokam-Sandeu, Palmieri, Markos Tourokis, and Luca Leonini. Carson-Newman converted on their first four attempts, before sending their leading scorer senior Thaylan Silva to the penalty spot to try and send the shootout into a sixth round.

Freshman Jasper Rump would come up clutch in the biggest moment of his young career as he guessed correctly and dove to his left to deny the Eagles' leading scorer and send his team to the next round of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament.

The Cobras will be back in action on Friday (Nov. 12) as they travel to Matthews, N.C. to take on the fourth-seeded Anderson (S.C.) University Trojans in the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament at the Matthews Sportsplex. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Live stats and video can be found at www.cokercobras.com.