Box Score Despite trailing for much of the game, the Bruins scored three goals in the final 10 minutes of play to defeat Pensacola Christian College 4-1 on Friday night. "We needed to have the will to win," Bruins forward Stephen Grider said. "We needed to have the inspiration to play soccer and when we got that first goal that got us going. We needed players to step up in the second half and we did that and we won."
Over 3,000 fans packed into Alumni Stadium for the first-ever meeting between the two schools soccer programs. The Bruins came into the match on Friday night with a 0-4 record after suffering a tough 4-2 loss on Tuesday to Montreat College. On this night, the Bruins and Eagles knew they weren't just playing for bragging rights, but also for potential playoff seeding in the regional tournament.
As the match began, the two teams exchanged possession as each were trying to get on the board first. The Eagles were able to send several good runs into the corners, but the Bruins defense led by Bryce Colon continued to turn aside opportunities. In the 26th minute, the Eagles caught a break as Andrew Zhang was called for a penalty inside the box, awarding Pensacola with a PK. Jake Liwosz buried the shot to put the Eagles up 1-0. The Bruins tried to counter and began to work the ball into the attacking third but their passing began to break down as several scoring opportunities were lost. At the end of the half, the Bruins trailed 1-0.
"We needed to do a better job of setting the tempo," Head Coach Jesse McCormick said. "We needed to be all in and some of our timing and rhythm wasn't there. Our effort was pretty good but our execution wasn't good."
In the second half, the Bruins came out looking for the equalizer. Down a goal, the Bruins came out in a crisp, up tempo style and pressed the Eagles looking for any mistakes or holes in the defense. The Eagles continued to play strong defensively as the Bruins couldn't seem to find an answer offensively. In the 76th minute, it was the Bruins who would be awarded a PK as a handball was called in the box. Bryce Colon took a confident penalty kick and tied the match at 1-1.
With just over 10 minutes remaining in the match, both teams knew this would come down to the wire. The Bruins continued to pressure the Eagles net as Stephen Grider went flying down the right side of the pitch, leaving defenders in his wake. Grider stumbled into the box but continued to work through the play finding Jared Simmons wide open in front of the net to make it 2-1. The fans erupted in celebration as the Bruins had taken their first lead of the match. The Eagles came right back and nearly tied the game but Andrew Kester made a great save to keep the Bruins on top.
With just minutes remaining, Grider again came up big for the Bruins with a goal to make it 3-1. Under a minute later, Simmons scored again as the Bruins completed the dramatic 4-1 win. It was an all-out display of heart and talent as the Bruins came back from being a goal down, and captured their first win of the season.
"We've got to be mature going forward," Coach McCormick said. "We're not going to have a fantastic crowd of thousands of people so we have to be mature and play with the same type of energy in our road games coming up."
With the win, the team is now 1-4 on the season. Andrew Kester had a great game for the team with 5 saves while Jared Simmons finished with two goals and Stephen Grider finished with one goal and one assist. Next up, the Bruins will be on the road at St. Andrew's University on Tuesday night.
