SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba Men's Soccer team dropped an intense match against the visiting Carson-Newman Eagles at home in Salisbury on Saturday afternoon, taking a hard 2-1 loss despite the Eagles being reduced to 10 men just past the hour mark with tensions running high on the pitch.

It was a frustrating final scoreline for Catawba (8-4-1) as they certainly had their chances against Carson-Newman (7-2-5) but failed to fully capitalize in a game that looked to be going their way. Both teams went into halftime scoreless before the action erupted near the hour mark, with Salano Birch pouncing on a rebound from one of Darrin de Meza's four saves to put away the shot and put Catawba in front in the 58^th minute.

Things would get chippy afterwards, as the first of six cards given out during the game and the second half alone was brandished to Birch just a few minutes later. A major scrum took place barely later, after Carson-Newman's Nic Carsh hacked down Catawba's Sebastia Cerda-Tous from behind and was shown straight red. The resulting confrontation saw the Eagles' Tim Vercelli and Catawba's Tom Savigar seeing yellow, with another card each shown to each team later on in a feisty second half.

Despite being a man down from the 64^th minute onwards, Carson-Newman continued to fight hard for an equalizer, and they found it in the 71^st minute through Eric Schmutzer, who nodded home an excellent cross from Niels Buurman past Zak Stiffler at the near post. Things would go from bad to worse for Catawba just a few minutes before the final whistle, as a costly foul from Catawba center back Alejo Bzurovski gifted the Eagles a penalty in the 87^th minute. Yannick Kranz made no mistake from the spot to give Carson-Newman their first lead of the game, which they would hold onto to win 2-1 with just 10 men for almost 30 minutes.

Catawba would finish the game with 15 shots to Carson-Newman's seven, with Darrin de Meza producing five saves for the Eagles to Zak Stiffler's two. 19 of the game's 28 fouls came in the second half, with there certainly being no lack of action over the last 45 minutes. Catawba will look to put this result behind them and look forward to their next game, Senior Night against Shaw at the Frock Soccer Complex in Salisbury at 7:00PM ET on Wednesday, October 19^th.