Box Score After watching the ladies team finish their inaugural home game, the men's team took the field in front of approximately 7,000 fans. Another 4,000+ were watching online through the Bruin webcast. The excitement generated by the crowd was contagious and both sides fed off of the excitement. The Southern Wesleyan Warriors are one of the stronger forces in the NCCAA, and their dominance and skill was again seen tonight.
From the opening kickoff, the Bruins quickly realized the speed and ball-control they would have to have in order to keep up with the Warriors. Less than 5 min into the game, Warriors forward Nicholas Luque bent a beautiful shot into the upper 90' past Bruins goalie Jon Sandy putting the Warriors up 1-0. The Bruin crowd was stunned, and yet less than 5 minutes later Mark Sterr would send a rocket shot that was deflected right to the feet of Kai Hubbard who finished the shot for the goal. That goal would tie the game at 1-1. Not to be outdone, the Warriors would respond with 4 unanswered goals over the next 40 minutes of play to put Southern Wesleyan up 5-1.
Facing adversity, the Bruins rallied with goals from Mark Sterr and Matt Moore to make it 5-3. Bruin fans were elated. The Warriors would soon squash the Bruins rally as Douglas Andrade would skip a shot past Sandy making it 6-3 and the Warriors never looked back. When the final whistle blew the Bruins found themselves on the losing end of an 8-4 match.
"Tonight was all about magnifying Christ on the field, and I think our guys did that," said Coach McCormick. "If we can clean up things on the back line and continue scoring goals like we did tonight we are going to be in good shape."
The Bruins strong offensive output is certainly something to build on. Ball control, crisp passing and physical intensity were key improvements made by the Bruins in this match. As the team continues to grow, no doubt they will become more and more in sync as a unit.
As the fireworks show concluded the evening, the Bruin faithful were all smiles. Sure the final score showed their team on the losing end for both matches, but these fans were able to experience history in watching the first games in Bruins history.
