In Wednesday's Battle of the Bruins, the Bob Jones University women's soccer team came out on top over Carolina University in a 6-2 victory. The BJU Bruins have now won eleven straight matches increasing their record to 12-1-0 and remain undefeated in NCCAA conference play.
"I am really proud of the team to come off a long hiatus since playing our last game and to work through some early struggles and eventually control the tempo of the game," said Head Coach Chris Carmichael. "Carolina University put a lot of pressure on us early in the match and it took us a little while to settle into the game despite the score. But we were eventually able to establish a rhythm of play and sustained a lot of attacking pressure and got 6 really nice goals."
As the Bruins looked to settle into this afternoon's game, Gabriela Gonzalez would get the early goal as she was able to slide the ball past the goalkeeper just three minutes in. The women's team kept pressuring and saw several more opportunities throughout the first half to increase their lead, but it wasn't until the 31st minute that Brinkley Adams, with the assist by Gabriela Gonzalez, was able to capitalize and the double the Bruins lead going into halftime.
Anna Grace Abrams tried to get the ball into the back of the net at the beginning of the second half, but it was Kayle Stevenson's goal seven minutes into the second half that gave the Bruins a 3-0 advantage. Not even two minutes later, Brinkley Adams scored again to bring the total to four goals for the BJU Bruins.
Carolina University would get on the board in the 57th minute, but Anna Grace Abrams would respond quickly to get another goal just 10 seconds later.
With 23 minutes remaining, Carolina would convert off of a corner kick to net their 2nd goal of the match. The final goal of the game would come once again from Gabriela Gonzalez who took a perfectly placed corner kick that went straight through the gloves of the Carolina keeper to end the game 6-2 in favor of the BJU Bruins.
"Our defense stepped up big and were able to absorb most of the attacks they had," said Carmichael. "Breanna Hilton and Bekah Shoop were able to make some nice saves and did a great job building the attack out of the back."
"Coming from a two week break without a game, it took us a bit to get our composure," said defender Jessica Townsend. "However, we quickly picked it back up and worked hard for our 6-2 victory."
Next up, the Bruins travel to Georgia to take on Toccoa Falls on October 19.
