PREVIEW: Men's Soccer hosts Carson-Newman for SAC Opener

SALISBURY, N.C. – Coming off its first win of the season, the Catawba Indians men's soccer team welcomes Carson-Newman to Frock Field on Saturday night to begin South Atlantic Conference play.

Pickle Town Triumph

- After surrendering a goal in the match's third minute, Catawba struck twice and never looked back to secure its first win of the season over Mount Olive

- Bautista Vecchi-Ramello and Kheynne Ona-Vera supplied their first goals of the season while Ona-Vera's was the first of his career

- Zak Stiffler made three saves between the posts, his highest mark in the young season

- Catawba held a double-digit lead in the shot count for the third game in a row

- The victory bumped the series ledger to 10-5 favoring Catawba and marked the 10th match decided by one goal

Corners Galore

- Following their last contest, the Catawba Indians are ranked second in the nation with 11.67 corner kicks per game. Tarheel State program Chowan is No. 1, averaging 12.50 opportunities

- Catawba's 14 corners against USC Aiken last Saturday was the squad's highest mark in at least seven seasons, 11 of which came in the second half, while the Pacers had none

- Through three matches, Catawba maintains a mighty 35-7 corner kick differential

- Vecchi-Ramello headed in a boot from Joe Bennett in the 13th minute at UMO to record Catawba's first score off a corner this season

Shooters Shoot

- Catawba leads the SAC and stands ninth nationwide with 19.67 shots per game

- Three players have recorded double-figure shot totals this season: Sebastia Cerda-Tous (11), Noah Sapsford (10), and Vecchi-Ramello (10)

- Last year, the Catawba Indians went 6-2-1 when managing at least 15 shots versus 3-4-1 when under 15 attempts. The only two losses with 15+ shots came against Lenoir-Rhyne in the final two matches

SAC Opener Saga

- Catawba is 3-4-3 in their last 10 conference openers but have not been beaten in its first SAC matchup since 2019, going 1-0-3 in that span

- Carson-Newman has gone a comparable 4-4-2 in their last 10 SAC openers with a 1-1-2 record on the road. C-N has only lost or tied in away SAC openers since 2017, but won seven consecutive matches until that point

All-Time Series

- The Eagles boast a 25-14-2 series lead over Catawba with a narrower goal differential of 71-66

- The clubs' first meeting took place in 1989 when Catawba delivered a 10-0 shellacking in Jefferson City, Tenn.

- Since 2009, C-N is 12-3-1 against Catawba and has not been topped since 2016

- Catawba is 6-10 when hosting Carson-Newman, falling in the last four home matches against the Eagles

- The last time Catawba beat C-N at The Frock was on Sep. 21, 2013 – that year's SAC opener

Scouting the Eagles

- Carson-Newman (0-2-1) last matched up with Montevallo on Wednesday, suffering a 4-2 loss to the Falcons. The Catawba Indians battled Montevallo to a 3-3 draw in the season's first duel

- C-N was ranked eighth in the conference's Preseason Coaches' Poll, just three points away from Catawba in sixth place

- Four Eagles were selected to the Preseason All-SAC teams. Ben Dukes appeared on the first team, Mitchell Honcoop and Maxime Webster were second-team honorees, and Federico Simonetti locked up a third team spot

- Honcoop has accounted for three of C-N's four goals this season, holding a share of the league lead in goals and points (7) with Mars Hill's Peter Plougmand

- Simonetti started in goal for the first two contests but Paul Moser has shouldered the duties lately, tallying four saves in Wednesday's loss

Follow Along

The 7 p.m. match will be streamed on FloSports ($) with live stats available on CatawbaAthletics.com.