The Bruins women continued their road trip by visiting Tennessee Temple today. The Bruins were playing their 5th match in eight days as they set to play the TTU Crusaders. The Bruins have an impressive 8-1-1 record on the road and were coming off a 1-0 victory over Freed-Hardeman on Friday night. The Crusaders entered Saturday's match with a 5-9-1 record. The Crusaders have had many good wins this year, including a 3-1 win over #1 ranked Clearwater earlier this season. The Bruins were looking for their fourth straight win as they took the field.
In the opening minutes, the Bruins played with great speed and tempo. The team showed great adversity in battling through their fatigue from a long week of games. The Bruins spread the Crusader defense and allowed their strikers to be able to make great runs on net. The Bruins controlled possession of the game as Spencer Martin and Rebecca Luttrell helped fuel the Bruins offense.
The Bruins struck first off a goal by Rebecca Luttrell off an assist from Tessie Estrella to make the score 1-0. A few minutes later, Luttrell scored again to increase the lead to 2-0. The Bruins looked to be in the driver's seat going into the break, but then the Crusaders netted a goal off of a corner kick with just minutes remaining in the half to make the score 2-1 at halftime.
"Collectively we defended well and put forth a strong effort," Coach Carmichael said. "Becca has been very dangerous up top and has done a great job finishing her chances."
In the second half, the Bruins turned up the offensive pressure as they looked to extend their lead. The team did an excellent job of working through their offensive progressions and had good combination play to generate quality shots on frame. In the midway point of the second half, Luttrell got a great pass from Sarah Iwanowycz to complete the hat trick as Luttrell put in her third goal of the game off a well-placed strike to give the Bruins a lead 3-1.
As the match was drawing to a close, the Crusaders mounted one last charge on net. Sarah Iwanowycz was called for a foul in the box to give the Crusaders a PK. Despite her effort, Tori Anderson was not able to block the PK opportunity as the Crusaders took one step closer 3-2. The Bruins defense stood strong in the final minutes and as the buzzer sounded, the Bruins had won their fourth straight victory with a 3-2 win over Tennessee Temple.
"I am very proud of our entire team," Coach Carmichael said. "We finished our regular season with a spectacular record for our second year. We need to do a better job of possessing in the future, but very pleased with our team for the win."
With the win, the Bruins improve to 11-4-2 on the season. Becca Luttrell led the way for the Bruins with 3 goals in the game. Luttrell scored five goals in this past week of games for the Bruins. Sarah Iwanowycz and Tessie Estrella each picked up an assist in the match. The Bruins finished their regular season with a very impressive 11-4-2 record. The team will rest and recover over the weekend before traveling to Florida next week to begin the NCCAA DII South Regional Playoffs.
