Bruins' forward Abby Davis notched a hat trick on Tuesday afternoon as the senior helped lead the Lady Bruins to an exciting 3-2 overtime win over Oglethorpe University. The goal was the fifth for Davis in the past two games as the team improves to 2-3-1 on the season.
It was a back and forth first half of play as both teams created five goal-scoring opportunities. In the 12th minute, Bruins junior forward Kayla Romeiser hustled to chase the ball down the sideline as she beat the Oglethorpe defense. She sent a pass into the middle and Abby Davis placed it in the far side of the net to give the Lady Bruins an early 1-0 lead.
"We did a great job of opening up the field," Davis said. "We were patient in the attacking third, finding the open teammate for a scoring opportunity."
In the 33rd minute Oglethorpe took advantage of a defensive miscue by the Lady Bruin defense, leading to a goal by forward Grace Henderson. As Bruins' goalkeeper Sarah Lloyd came out to retrieve the ball, defender Caralise Roach cleared it before Lloyd got there, and it landed at the feet of forward Grace Henderson, who then chipped the ball over Lloyd's head to tie the game at 1-1.
Oglethorpe carried that momentum into the second half. Eight minutes in forward Kayla Trice intercepted the ball in the middle of the field and beat the Lady Bruin defense to give Oglethorpe University a 2-1 lead.
The Lady Bruins didn't quit and came rallying back. For the second time in the match, Kayla Romeiser was able to assist off a Abby Davis goal. Davis' first shot opportunity deflected off an Oglethorpe defender, Davis picked up the rebound with her left foot and fired a rocket past the opposing goalkeeper Sidney Stone to tie the game at 2-2 at the 64th minute mark.
Neither team was able to score from that point on, leading to a golden-goal extra time period. Both teams remained scoreless after the first OT period despite several scoring opportunities. With only 32 seconds remaining in the match, Abby Davis once again proved to be the difference as she ran past the defense and headed in a goal off an assist from Marissa Allebach. The goal completed the hat trick for Davis and won the match 3-2 for the Bruins.
"Credit to Oglethorpe, they gave us a big challenge today," Bruins Head Coach Chris Carmichael said. "We had to dig deep, it was a tough battle from start to finish."
Abby Davis had three goals for the Bruins while Kayla Romeiser finished with two assists and Marissa Allebach had one assist. The team outshot 25-13 including a 12-5 on-goal margin. The team will look to push their winning streak to three in a row on Friday as they travel to North Carolina for a matchup with Greensboro College.
