From Alumni Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina, the Bob Jones University women's soccer team battled to a 2-1 loss against NCAA DII Georgia Southwestern State University. After going undefeated for 13 games this season, the Bruins move forward with a 8-1-5 record.
"I couldn't be more proud of the team for their effort today especially the effort they gave in the second half," said Head Coach Chris Carmichael. "We made some adjustments to our system and the players did a phenomenal job keeping Georgia Southwestern State University under a lot of attacking pressure. A loss like this stings for sure but I couldn't be more proud of the way in which the team played today, and I believe this will bode well going into the next few games to come, especially as we get ready for regionals and nationals."
The Bruins came into Saturday's home match following a big 3-0 win over Southern Wesleyan University on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Georgia Southwestern State University Hurricanes faced Clayton State University where they won 2-1 off of two own goals by Clayton State to improve to 4-7-3.
Georgia Southwestern got off to a hot start as they put a couple shots towards the net early. Margaret Cummings made a huge stop in the sixth minute to keep the Hurricanes off the board. But in the 15th minute, the Hurricanes earned a corner kick and as the kick sailed to the back post of the goal, Geraldine Alvarez was there to poke the ball past the Bruins defenders into the goal to put her team ahead 1-0.
The Bruins had a few opportunities the first half, but couldn't put anything away. As both teams went to their benches at halftime the score still read 1-0 in favor of the Hurricanes.
Just five minutes into the second half, the Hurricanes doubled their lead after the Bruins tried to clear the ball out after a corner kick but it went into the net as an own goal.
After the second goal, the Bruins came out with a renewed energy and began to push towards a goal of their own. With just over 12 minutes remaining, Gabriela Gonzalez kept the ball at her feet as she got free of two defenders. She passed the ball ahead where Ashlyn Schmidt's one touch sent the ball past the keeper for a Bruins goal.
Just a couple minutes later, Hurricanes goalkeeper Alana Beddow received a yellow card for stalling giving the Bruins a free kick at the top of the box. The Bruins continued to fight for the equalizing goal, but after 90 minutes of play saw themselves down 2-1.
"Even though the outcome didn't go our way, I am proud of the team for keeping their head up and coming out strong in the second half," said forward Ashlyn Schmidt. "I'm proud of everyone for giving 100% and pushing to the last second."
"We were under a lot of pressure the first half by a very good NCAA DII team and it took us a while to adjust to this," said Carmichael. "Unfortunately they stung us on two corner kicks but despite going down we came back and played some of the best soccer we have played all season. We had several excellent goal scoring opportunities that on another day would have gone in. In a weird way I am more proud of the team with how we played today compared to some of the wins we had where we didn't play great soccer. Today they showed such resiliency and determination and composure and possessed extremely well in the second half which continued to open up opportunities. We had a couple shots go off the cross bar and I really thought we were going to get the equalizer. In the end we can keep our chins high for a job well done, especially in areas that we needed improving."
Carmichael continued saying, "we look forward to finishing the regular season strong and then getting ready for regionals and nationals."
Up next, the Bruins will travel to Demorest, Georgia to take on Piedmont University on Monday, October 23.
