In a tough matchup against nationally ranked Centre College, the Bob Jones University Bruins fell 3-1 from Alumni Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina.
"We knew this was going to be tough as they are a top-ranked DIII program," said Head Coach Chris Carmichael. "I thought our work rate and defending was good. We just couldn't win the ball and do enough with it in the attacking end. But Centre is a good team, and I think it's going to get us ready for the next games to come."
The Bruins entered the match 5-2 on the season after a shutout loss to Methodist University over the weekend while the Colonels came off of a solid 2-0 victory against Denison University. Tuesday's tilt was the first meeting between the two programs.
The Colonels got off to a hot start as there were several good looks early for the visiting team, but 10 minutes and 30 seconds into the match, Gabriela Gonzalez danced around several defenders before firing the ball towards the top right corner of the goal. The Colonels' goalkeeper looked to push the ball up and out of the net, but the ball got behind her as the Bruins went up 1-0 early in the contest.
Centre College evened the score in the 29th minute on a bicycle kick goal from Megan Sidaway. The first 45 minutes of play ended with the Bruins and Colonels knotted at one goal each.
Centre College controlled the second half and were able to capitalize twice to increase their lead. Megan Sidaway recorded a brace in the 63rd minute as she headed the ball into the net off of a corner kick. Just five minutes later they were able to score once more as Maggie Corbett fired one from outside of the box to bring the score to 3-1 in favor of the visiting Colonels.
The Colonels kept knocking, but the Bruins defense kept them away until the final whistle. With today's loss, the Bruins are now 5-3 on the season. They'll have a week off of games before traveling to Atlanta, Georgia next Tuesday to face another DIII opponent, Oglethorpe University.
Looking ahead to their upcoming games, Coach Carmichael said that "we need to increase our speed of play on the attacking side, but we'll get there. The team's heads are up. They're encouraged as we kept the score respectable. We'll learn from it and move on as we still have a lot of games ahead of us."
