The Bruins women's soccer team competed in their second match of group play in the NCCAA DII national tournament on Friday afternoon against the Ohio Christian University Trailblazers. The Bruins upset the #1 ranked Providence University College Pilots 4-0 on Thursday afternoon, and Ohio Christian had fallen in a 2-1 match against Providence on Wednesday evening. The Bruins and Trailblazers were set to play the final match of the group A pairing. A win would mean a trip to the NCCAA title game for the Bruins and a loss would send the grouping into a tiebreaker. 

The Bruins and Trailblazers had met once during the 2013 regular season with the Bruins gaining a narrow 1-0 victory. The team was looking to continue their impressive play in the NCCAA tournament. 

As the match began, the Bruins went right back to work showing great possession and ball movement in the opening minutes. The team transitioned the ball quickly up the field and Sarah Porch fired a shot just wide of the net. On the very next possession, the Bruins moved the ball up the field toward the far corner of the field where Rebecca Luttrell sent a pass into the center. Jenn Wise connected on the pass and sent a great shot right into the upper portion of the center of the net to put the Bruins up 1-0 less than two minutes into the match. 

From there, the Bruins continued to show great skill in possessing the ball and limiting the opportunities for the Trailblazers. The defense was again stellar for the Bruins in clearing out offensive opportunities. Goalie Tori Anderson was tested only once throughout the first half. 

With the half coming to a close, the Bruins had several great looks on net but failed to convert. In the 17th minute of play, the Bruins found the goal again after Rebecca Luttrell sent a great through pass to Deanna Howard who found space just inside the box and sent a beautiful hard shot into the goal to put the Bruins up 2-0. The Trailblazers tried to mount an offensive rush, but the defense was too strong for the Bruins as the half ended 2-0. 

"We wanted to continue to play the same way we have all tournament," Coach Carmichael said. "We have had great possession which opens up the field so much for us to attack and I thought we did a really good job of that in the first half." 

In the second half, the Trailblazers looked to get back into the game. The Bruins remained calm and collected as the defense cleared out opportunities and transitioned the ball into the midfield for the Bruins offense to set up their attack. The team had a comfortable 2-0 lead but still continued to attack the net. Four different times throughout the second half, the Bruins had a breakaway opportunity on net, but the team failed to convert and the score remained 2-0. OCU switched around their offense to try to gain access to the net, but each shot was gobbled up by Bruins goalie Tori Anderson, who made 5 saves on the night.

The clock continued to tick down, bringing the Bruins that much closer to the title game. The Bruins defense shut down the Trailblazers while outshooting them 23-7 in the match. As Leah Edwards made one final clear for the Bruins, the horn sounded sending the Bruins to the NCCAA DII Title game with a 2-0 victory over Ohio Christian University. 

"I am very proud of the hard work this team has put in," Coach Carmichael said. "We were a little shaky in the second half, but we still got the win. We are going to have a tough opponent in Clearwater for the championship. We are going to have to change some things up tactically and handle their speed of play, but we will be ready." 

Rebecca Luttrell had two assists on the match while Jenn Wise and Deanna Howard each scored a goal. Tori Anderson completed her 10th clean sheet of the season as the Bruins have not yielded a goal all tournament and have outscored their two opponents 6-0. 

The Bruins will meet the Clearwater Christian College Cougars in the championship match on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The Bruins and Cougars have met twice this season. In the regular season, the Bruins and Cougars played to a 0-0 draw. In the NCCAA South Regional Championship, the Bruins fell to the Cougars in a tough fought match 2-1. Tomorrow afternoon, the two teams will meet again to see who will be crowned the 2013 NCCAA DII national champion.