Newman breaks Carroll's all-time goals record

Two games after setting a new school record with six goals in one contest, Carroll County’s Ashlyn Newman duplicated the feat April 20 in the Cavaliers’ 6-0 win at Alleghany. In doing so, the Cavalier senior broke an even bigger school record as her sixth goal of the night was the 72nd of her career, moving Newman past former Carroll great Adrienne Harris to become the school’s new all-time leading goal scorer.

Newman’s assault on the Cavalier record books really took off in the second half at Alleghany. While she had scored once in the first half, Carroll went into the locker room leading a winless Cougars’ squad 1-0. Head coach Ben Tickle and crew made a few adjustments and Newman was off and running, tying the school record 10 minutes into the second half with four goals during that time frame. The record-breaking goal came minutes later as Newman scored on Callie Harris’s third assist of the night, ripping the back of the net for the sixth occasion on the evening as Carroll moved to 8-2 overall and 2-2 in the Three Rivers District. Newman's record sets a school record for goals scored by a male or female player.

“If you talk to Ashlyn she will tell you I don’t score those goals unless Callie puts the ball where I need it or unless Karmen (Smith) or Harleigh (Riggins) sends me a through pass. I get that. She knows,” Tickle said. “Now with that said, when she gets the ball on her foot she can do some magical things. It’s not only that she has a very strong leg, but she has such a good touch, she handles the ball well. She maneuvers and she is smart. She can dictate where the defender is going to go, she can get them moving one way so she moves back the other way, and that is what sets her up for good shots.”

Newman, who scored her 50th career goal March 19 at home against Galax, set the school record for most goals in a game April 17 against Galax, along with the record for most points in a game (12). Two days later she netted Carroll’s only goal in a tough 2-1 overtime loss to Radford. Tickle’s team went into Alleghany on Monday night with Newman five goals shy of tying the school’s all-time scoring record.

“To be honest with you I really didn’t have it on my radar,” Tickle said. “She had only scored six goals in a game once in her career, so it just wasn’t really on my radar.”

The Cavaliers entered the night down two starters as Bre Shumate suffered an injury and Sarah Alderman was out sick. A few minutes into the Alleghany game, Carroll’s starting goalie, Alexis Sheffey, made a save while being kicked in the head, causing an injury that sidelined her for the rest of the evening.

“So we pulled her out and Savannah Swecker, bless her heart, hasn’t played soccer since third grade, but she is one of the most athletic young ladies I have ever coached. We had prepared her for this if this were to happen, and so she went in at goalie and did a great job. But at halftime we were only up 1-0, so to be honest I was worried about winning the game,” Tickle said. “I was worried about winning the game, so it still wasn’t even on my radar.”

Tickle often refers to how smart of a player and person Newman is, and it was her suggestion that broke the game open in the second half.

“She came to me and said, ‘Coach, that number 1 is just clobbering me down there.’ She said, ‘I have already spoken to the officials but when the ball is away she is giving me the business,’” Tickle said. “So I said, ‘Let’s play through this.’ And Ashlyn said, ‘Just let me come up top,’ and we did. We told Callie try to get her the ball up top before she is able to get into the mix. Callie can put the ball where she wants to and she was getting the ball to Ashlyn up high and Ashlyn was dribbling through them, putting on a clinic. So 10 minutes into the second half she has got four more goals. And it is just like it happens so fast it was all kind of a blur, but we are sitting there and she has tied the school record at 71, and for a split second I thought to myself, ‘Man, I really would like for her to break that record at home.’ Then I thought she is rolling, we are finally rolling here, it wasn’t that long ago it was 1-0, go with it. And sure enough it didn’t take long. It was great and the way she did it, she just put on a show. It was basically give me the ball and we have a couple of girls, Callie and Karmen and even Harleigh, can get her the ball where she wants it, and from there she just takes over.”

Making Newman’s all-time career scoring record even more impressive is the fact that she missed a significant portion of her sophomore year with an injury.

“It feels really good and it is also cool because I am wearing number one, which is my sister K.K.’s number, which is kind of in a way like I am playing with her. She was really good on the soccer field too whenever she was playing,” Newman said of breaking the record. “It felt exciting and good too because I was excited about all my friends, and I put a lot of hard work into four years on varsity so it felt really nice to see that hard work pay off.”

On breaking so many records of late, Newman said it is her senior year and she is just trying to make the most of it and take advantage of every opportunity she gets. She credits much of the success to her teammates, and points out the family connection between the Newmans and the Harrises.

“I feel like a big, big part of that is Karmen on defense. She is awesome and she is my best friend, but it is just perfect because we have also played together a long time on our travel team so we have pretty good chemistry. She knows where I want the ball, I know where she is going to hit it, stuff like that,” Newman said. “But she does a really good job getting it up from defense and she’s got really good strategy. And with Callie it is really cool because K.K. and Adrienne played together and it has kind of flip-flopped. K.K helped a lot with the assists for Adrienne and Adrienne got the record. But now Callie is helping me, so it is really cool. I feel like our families work well together and so I am just really thankful to Callie and Carmen especially for helping me with those opportunities, but also with support. Karmen has been one of the most supportive people I have ever met.”

While Newman has received considerable interest from college recruits, she’s already made her mind up on attending Liberty University. There, she plans to major in Music and Worship with a concentration in Biblical Studies. Her plan is take those tools and go into the ministry after college.

Tickle said Newman can definitely play Division I college soccer, noting Newman is Carroll’s best goalie, but the team simply can’t give up such a big portion of its offense by putting her in goal. Newman said right now she is looking at having a more normal college experience. She’s afraid if she does play in college, it will feel more like a job instead of a sport, hobby or passion.

“I want to make sure I can focus on my studies without having to be distracted with that. I also thought about if I don’t walk on about maybe playing club or intramural just to have some fun but without having to put that much time and effort into it,” Newman said.

Whatever Newman decides on for her future, she will exceed, Tickle said confidently.

“She is the kind of kid if she decided she wanted to go be an engineer, she could go be an engineer. If she decided she wanted to go study molecular biology, she could go study molecular biology,” Tickle said. “She could do whatever she desired, but she really wants to go serve the Lord and be in ministry, and I greatly admire that. My thing for her is that you are such a good role model that you could set that good standard in anything you do, so maybe she will be open to it.”

Allen Worrell can be reached at (276) 779-4062 or on X@AWorrellTCN