It was a tough night as North Greenville University came away with five goals to defeat the Bob Jones University Bruins 5-1 at Alumni Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina. With tonight's loss, the Bruins drop to 6-4-1 on the season.
"Anytime we face teams that play at a high speed like North Greenville, it's just going to get us more battle ready for the matches coming up," said Head Coach Chris Carmichael. "If we can play like the first 15 minutes consistently throughout the whole game, we'll be in good shape. We've got to figure out how to stick to our game plan. We started out well and need to stay at that level."
The Bruins came into tonight's match after back-to-back games last week taking a 3-1 victory over Oglethorpe University on Tuesday before earning a hard fought draw against against Eastern Mennonite University on Wednesday. North Greenville University entered the math on a seven-game hot streak as they earned clean sheets in six of their last seven wins.
As tonight's game kicked off from Alumni Stadium, North Greenville University would get off to a quick start. As they earned their second corner kick of the day, Molly Platt would sail the ball towards the backside of the net where Romee Contreras was there to knock it in just 90 seconds into the match.
The Bruins were quick to respond as Kayle Stevenson sent the ball forward to Mia Marks who chased the ball down to the near corner. As Marks crossed the ball across the net, the Crusader keeper came off her line to attempt a save, but the ball slipped through her hands to Anna Grace Abrams who was able to settle it, shoot and score to even the game at 1-1.
Romee Contreras regained the lead for the visiting team in the 25th minute off of an assist by Alexah Fite. The duo would do it again less than 10 minutes later to bring the score to 3-1 in favor of North Greenville as the two teams went into halftime.
After the break, the Crusaders would once again strike early as Romee Contreras netted her fourth goal of the game as she tapped in the ball after the ball slipped out of Bruins keeper Rebekah Shoop's hands.
The Bruins looked to get past North Greenville's defensive line, but they held strong and only allowed four shots throughout the second half.
The Crusader's would score their final goal of the night in the 71st minute as Abigail Shultz sailed a long ball over the Bruins defense and into the back of the net.
As the Bruins look towards their next game, Coach Carmichael said his team needs to be patient and look to be more creative in the attacking third.
"Right now we can only look forward, and we still have a winning record," said Carmichael. "We'll come out strong this Saturday and have a really good match."
Bob Jones is back at home on Saturday for Homecoming as they host Regent University at 4 p.m. at Alumni Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina.
