Box Score Over 4,000 fans packed into Alumni Stadium for Homecoming weekend, and the Bruins didn't disappoint as the team defeated Chowan University 3-2 on Saturday night. "It was fantastic," Coach Jesse McCormick. "It was an amazing crowd and the energy and excitement is such a help for us from an energy level standpoint to keep our guys going to the very end. I have to give credit to Chowan as they came out ready to play and they did a lot of good things." 

The Bruins entered the match with a 9-5 record after suffering a tough loss to Truett-McConnell College on Thursday night. The Hawks entered Saturday's match with a 6-5-3 record, but had lost 3 of their last 4 matches. The energy was high as the Bruin faithful were ready to see their beloved Bruins take the pitch. 
 
 

In the opening minutes, it was the Hawks who looked to assert their dominance as they used their speed and pace to move towards the Bruins net. The team nearly drew first blood in the 22nd minute, but Bruins goalie Philip Gibble came up with a brilliant save to keep the Hawks off the board. 

The Bruins began to find their rhythm at the midway point of the half and began to work the ball into the attacking third. In the 32nd minute, AJ Redlinger gathered the ball and sent a beautiful centering pass to the feet of Jared Simmons who re-directed it to make it 1-0 Bruins. The team kept up the pressure and continued to work the ball into space for shots. With under a minute to play in the half, the Bruins mounted one last charge toward the net. Stephen Grider bent a cross into the middle which was headed by Jared Simmons and finished by AJ Redlinger as he scored with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead at the half. 

"I've had a few of those situations before so throughout the game I knew I needed to be ready for it," Redlinger said. "The ball came across and I tried to pick out where the goalie wasn't and put my head down and hoped for the best."

As the second half began, the Hawks were looking to claw their way back into the match. Just three minutes into the half, Terell Williamson found open space in front of the net and buried the shot past Philip Gibble to cut into the lead 2-1. On the next possession, the Bruins nearly had the answer as a broken play by Chowan left Matt Moore alone in front of the net, but his shot sailed just wide. Both teams kept the pressure on trying to get a goal. 

In the 73rd minute, Williamson found the back of the net again as he beat Gibble with a low shot to tie the game 2-2. The energy was sucked out of the crowd, but slowly the rowdy student section began to rally the energy back into the game. The Bruins fed off the energy of the crowd and began to march their way up the field. In the 80th minute of play, Matt Moore found AJ Redlinger across the middle and Redlinger finished a brilliant strike to put the Bruins up 3-2 as the hometown crowd erupted. With the game on the line, the Hawks desperately looked for the equalizer but the Bruins defense stood strong as the team held on in the final moments to capture a 3-2 win. 

"It's very humbling to have this many people come out and watch," Redlinger said. "I've never played in front of a crowd this size. Our games are big but this was even bigger. People are pretty excited about this season and how we've done so far. We realize we beat a really good team but at the same time we know it's not going to be easy as we move forward."

Redlinger led the Bruins with 2 goals and 1 assist on the night and Jared Simmons added 1 goal and 1 assist. The Bruins outshot the Hawks 15-13 in the match as the team improved to 10-5 on the season. Next up, the Bruins welcome Piedmont College on Tuesday night.