A beautiful header finish by Marvell Lareche helped the Bruins battle back to a 3-3 draw against North Greenville University on Monday night. "We have a lot of dangerous players up top with new guys and returning guys," Coach Jesse McCormick said. "The second half we played with a lot more intensity and played a lot quicker which I was very happy about. A lot of good things to take from this preseason into this year."

The Bruins and Crusaders took the pitch on Monday night in Tigerville, South Carolina for the Bruins last preseason match in preparation for the upcoming season. Both teams exchanged possessoin during the opening minutes but it was the Bruins who struck first courtesy of newcomer Stephen Grider who notched his first goal as a Bruin to put the team up 1-0. 

North Greenville came back just few minutes later with the equalizer, but Grider again was the go-to Bruin offensively as he finished a beautiful corner kick from Matt Moore to put the Bruins back in the lead 2-1. Refusing to quit, the Crusaders battled back again and evened the score at 2-2 to close out the first half. 

"It was good to get some good set pieces offensively," Coach McCormick said. "We know when we put shots and set pieces on frame good things are going to happen and I was happy with how we were able to finish many of those pieces and have several guys step up as soon as they went on the pitch." 

The Bruins came out strong in the opening minutes of the second half, and nearly took the lead as a rocket shot from Jared Simmons deflected off the post. The Crusaders would break the tie as they capitalized on a corner kick header to gain their first lead of the night 3-2. 

As the match progressed, it looked as though the Bruins would have to settle for a hard fought loss. With just minutes remaining, the Bruins got another corner kick opportunity. Ryan McCarty bent a beautiful set piece into the middle which was headed in by Marvell Lareche to even the score at 3-3. 

Both teams had several chances in the closing minutes, but the final whistle ended the match in a 3-3 draw. 

"We had a few lapses tonight which we need to clean up, but overall did some good things tonight that we can take forward," Coach McCormick said. "We need to make sure we play well for 90 minutes. We have a lot of talent offensively, but we just need to make sure we are moving the ball in an out efficiently." 

The Bruins will begin the 2015 season on Thursday evening as they open the season on the road against Johnson University in Knoxville, Tennessee.