Box Score
The Bruins women's soccer team was on the road on Friday night as they traveled to Tennessee for a match with the Freed-Hardeman Lions. The Bruins have been stellar on the road this season with a 7-1-1 record. The team was riding a two-game winning streak after victories over Chowan and Oglethorpe. The Lions have been struggling in recent weeks as the team has lost three of their last four matches and was 3-8-2 on the season. The Bruins would be without starting goalkeeper Tori Anderson, but backup Tessa Hoskinson has been solid in the net for the Bruins in Anderson's absence.
From the opening kickoff, the Bruins came out strong and controlled the tempo to start the match. Although the Bruins controlled the tempo, the team had trouble generating shots on frame. The Lions outshot the Bruins 7-3 in the opening half. Both teams looked to gain the upper hand in the scoreless draw, but neither could find the back of the net. The Bruins would strike first as in the 25th minute, Lauren Peek dribbled through the Lions defense and netted a beautiful goal for her 9th goal of the season to put the Bruins up 1-0. After getting the lead, the re-energized Lions put on a full frontal attack to look for the equalizer. Tessa Hoskinson was rock solid in net as she made 6 saves throughout the first half as the Bruins took a slim 1-0 to the break.
"We dominated the opening minutes and had good possession as we were fortunate to notch a goal," Coach Carmichael said. "After that we had to deal with relentless pressure from Freed Hardeman who stepped up big time and had a bunch of opportunities for the equalizer."
In the second half, the Bruins continued to battle the onslaught of shots by the Lions offense. The Bruins were only able to generate two shots in the second half but played good strong defense to not allow many open opportunities. Tessa Hoskinson made 7 more saves in the second half as the Lions outshot the Bruins 19-5 for the game. Try as they might, the Lions couldn't find the equalizer as the Bruins defense deflected shots and kept the lead. The Lions played with desperation and were given yellow cards twice in the second half. As the final buzzer sounded, the Bruins had captured their third straight win and improved their away record to 8-1-1 with a 1-0 victory.
"Our defense was solid tonight," Coach Carmichael said. "They kept us in the game when we had lost control on offense. Tess did a great job in goal and made some great saves to keep us in the game. Overall we were happy to get the victory."
With the win the Bruins improve to 10-4-2 on the season. Lauren Peek's goal proved to be the difference in the win. Tessa Hoskinson recorded her second straight clean sheet as she stopped all 13 shots sent her way. The Bruins will be on the road again tomorrow afternoon as they finish up the regular season with a match against the Tennessee Temple Crusaders at 2 p.m.
