JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Niall McCabe scored the deciding goal with 2:44 remaining as Young Harris College held on for a 3-2 non-conference men's soccer victory over Carson-Newman College Saturday (Sept. 29) afternoon at McCown Field.
The Mountain Lions, who are ranked No. 10 in the latest NSCAA NCAA Division II Top 25 poll, improved to 8-2-0 while the Eagles fell to 4-2-1. Young Harris returns to action Wednesday (Oct. 3) when they host Shorter University in a 5 p.m. match at the Frances Wood Wilson Soccer Field.
Young Harris scored the first two goals of the match. McCabe scored his first goal with less than eight minutes remaining before halftime off a Lewis Hilton assist. Ilija Ilic headed in his sixth goal of the season off a lofted kick from just outside the box from Hilton just over seven minutes into the second half.
The Eagles scored twice in the later stages of the second half. Rurik Pereira followed his own miss shot at the 76:58 mark before Matt Craine tied the match at 2 with 3:57 remaining off an assist from the left side of the box by Christopher Trejo.
McCabe, who leads the team in goals (9), assists (9) and points (27), gave Young Harris the lead back for good 73 seconds later when his shot from the left side of the box got past the Carson-Newman keeper. Ilic had an assist on the deciding goal.
"I'm very happy to get back into winning ways," said Young Harris head coach Mark McKeever. "We made it very hard for ourselves. Sitting very comfortably at 2-0 we failed to provide the clinical touch during flurry of attacks. However, (Ilija) Ilic and (Niall) McCabe showed up again when it counted."
