Down in Temple Terrace, Florida, the Bob Jones University women's soccer team pulled out a 5-4 victory over Florida College to extend their winning streak to five games as they improved to 11-4-1 on the season. Mia Marks and Gabriela Gonzalez each recorded a brace while Anna Grace Abrams came up big to score the game winner in the final minutes.
"Although we started off tactically sound we just didn't match Florida College's energy level and they were able to take the game to us and made us work really hard for this win," said Head Coach Chris Carmichael. "But I'm extremely proud that our team never quit and their strong work ethic from the first whistle to the last continues to pay big dividends as we had only a few minutes to get the game-winning goal and Anna Grace Abrams pulled thru with a perfect pass from Mia Marks to notch the win."
Coming into today's game, the Bruins saw themselves on a four-game winning streak following a 3-0 victory at home against Erskine College on Saturday. They then made the trip to Florida to face Florida College. The Falcons entered today's game 6-7-1 on the season boasting a 5-1-1 home record.
From the whistle, the Bruins started off strong as both teams exchanged shots to look for the opening goal. In the 12th minute, Mia Marks would send the ball to Gabriela Gonzalez who would kick off the scoring in tonight's contest.
Without wasting any time the Falcons responded by tying the game up at 1-1. They would get on the board once more in the first half to extend their lead to 2-1.
The Bruins continued to attack and were rewarded in the 26th minute with their second goal of the game as Mia Marks scored off of an assist from Ashlyn Schmidt.
At the conclusion of the first 45 minutes of play, the match was deadlocked at 2-2.
Gabriela Gonzalez gave the Bruins the go ahead goal just five minutes into the second half as she dribbled around the defenders and shot it right past the goalkeeper. The Bruins continued to pepper the goal as they looked to improve on their lead, and in the 57th minute, Mia Marks scored to double the lead.
Bob Jones looked to hold on to their lead but the Falcons scored in the 78th minute and again in the 85th minute to tie it up once more.
As the end of the game drew near, Anna Grace Abrams came off the bench and immediately made an impact as a pass from Mia Marks set her up perfectly to score the game-winning in the final two minutes to seal the deal for the Bruins.
"We started slow in the first half but managed to score 2 goals," said midfielder Anna Grace Abrams. "The second half we really brought the energy and possessed and found opportunities to put ourselves ahead. Overall, it was a good team effort to get a win against a strong team."
"The impressive thing is that the best is still yet to come and these types of challenging games both stretch us and refine us," said Carmichael. "Florida College played a phenomenal match and my hats off to the coaching staff and their players for also never giving up and being able to get the equalizers each time we got the lead. We have a lot of recovery to do in a short amount of time before playing a very tough Warner team tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. That is our primary focus right now."
Up next, the Bruins have a quick turnaround as they travel to Lake Wales, Florida to face Warner University at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
