A pair of goals by Kendall Mullenix sparked the #4 seeded Pensacola Christian College Eagles as they defeated the Bruins 3-1 on Wednesday night in the pool play round of the NCCAA DII National Tournament. The loss presents a must-win situation for the Bruins on Thursday if they are to keep their championship hopes alive.
"It was a tough loss," Bruins Head Coach Jesse McCormick said. "We had some very good looks early on that we just needed to capitalize on. We'll need to execute offensively on Thursday if we want to move on."
The conditions presented a tough atmosphere for both teams as rain fell the entirety of the match with temperatures below 40 degrees. In the opening minutes, both teams got used to the speed of the pitch as they exchanged possession early on. The Bruins were able to create several good looks in the opening minutes thanks to good combination play by Jesse Rush and Sebastian Sulik which freed up Karl Walker and Andrew Peterson for looks.
The Bruins continued to pressure the net relentlessly as they outshot the Eagles 9-1 in the first twenty minutes of the half. Despite the pressure by BJU, it was the Eagles who would find the back of the net first as a turnover gave a quick counter to PCC and Kendall Mullenix scored on a low shot past Bruins keeper Isaac Landry to put the Eagles up 1-0.
The goal took the wind out of the Bruins attack, but the team looked to regain the composure and find the equalizer. Unfortunately, their efforts ran out as the buzzer sounded to end the half with the Eagles up 1-0.
In the second half, the Bruins came out looking to claw their way back into the game. Just six minutes into the second half, Mullenix struck again for the Eagles as he intercepted an errant pass by the Bruins defense and beat Landry on a breakaway goal to put the Eagles up 2-0. The PCC bench went crazy as they picked up an important insurance goal to add to their lead.
The Bruins offense that had been so aggressive in the opening minutes, now struggled to maintain possession as scoring chances continued to be turned aside. The Eagles continued to ride their momentum and put the game out of reach in the 60th minute of play as Nick Standridge scored a beauty off a free kick from over 40 yards out. That goal made it 3-0 with the match beginning to come to an end.
With their backs against the wall, the Bruins knew they had to get something going offensively to get back into the game. It showed as the Bruins began to move the ball into the attacking third and create open shots on frame.
In the 80th minute, the Bruins were awarded a free kick just outside the box. Andrew Zhang bent the kick in which deflected off Bruins forward Peter Waddy. The loose ball was finished by Karl Walker as he rocketed a shot into the net to put the Bruins on the board trailing 3-1. Walker grabbed the ball and raced it back up to the middle of the field as he had given the Bruins new life with just minutes to play. Unfortunately, the rally began too late as the final buzzer handed the Eagles a 3-1 victory.
The Bruins outshot the Eagles on the match 18-11 but were just 6-5 in shots on goal. Karl Walker notched his fifth goal of the season with the Bruins not grabbing any points in the match for their pool play grouping.
The season comes down to one game with several options depending on the outcome. The Bruins face a must-win game against #1 seeded North Central University if they hope to advance to the national championship game. The Bruins not only need to win but will need to win by at least a three-goal margin. Should the Bruins lose tomorrow, North Central would advance to the championship game. If the Bruins win by two goals or less, Pensacola will advance to the championship. The Bruins will take the field again tomorrow night with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
