The Bob Jones University Bruins women's soccer team came up big Saturday afternoon as they shutout the Florida College Falcons 3-0 at Alumni Stadium in front of a big Homecoming crowd. Today's clean sheet marked the seventh win for the Bruins as they improved to 7-0-3 on the year.
"The team did a great job creating a lot of pressure on Florida College, and we created many goal scoring opportunities," said Head Coach Chris Carmichael. "We struggled a little in possession but given a backdrop of some challenges the team was experiencing off the field going into the game I couldn't be more proud of their effort in getting a strong win."
Just 30 seconds into today's game, the Bruins pushed the ball forward and Gabriela Gonzalez took the first shot of the game and saw it roll right past goalkeeper Jillian Francis of Florida College to put the Bruins on the board.
The Bruins continued to pepper the net with shots and with 11 minutes remaining before halftime Myleigh Shaw crossed the ball towards Sarah Ward who was positioned in front of the goal. But as a Falcons defender looked to poke the ball out of the box, Gabriela Gonzalez was there to collect. She went top shelf to score her second goal of the game and 13th of the season.
Ending the half on a high note, the Bruins scored once more in the 40th minute. Looking to get out of pressure by the Falcons, Myleigh Shaw passed the ball into the middle of the field where Elli Cummings handled it and put an absolute rocket into the back of the net to give the Bruins the 3-0 lead.
Florida College came out looking for control of the second half, but the Bruins were able to maintain the clean sheet and after 90 minutes of play finished with the 3-0 victory.
"Our team worked hard today and dominated the pitch," said Bruins goalkeeper Margaret Cummings. " Every player did their very best to come out with a big win. I wouldn't want to be a part of any other team!"
Following the game, Coach Carmichael praised his players saying, "Margaret Cummings had another strong performance to keep a clean sheet. Braden Adams, Jessica Townsend and Abby Arrowood were solid in both defending and buildup phase out of the back. Gaby Gonzalez continues to be extremely dangerous in the attacking third and scored two phenomenal goals while Elli Cummings added alot of pace and speed in the midfield and scored an amazing goal as well."
"We had strong play from everybody that played today and I'm extremely proud of each player," Carmichael continued. "Florida College did a great job staying in the game and for a good part of the second half had control of the game. Our players worked hard to get control of the game and managed to get things back on track and were able to begin sustaining continual goal scoring opportunities. We will get some recovery and turn our focus on to Carolina University."
Up next, the Bruins will be back home at Alumni Stadium on October 13 for an afternoon match against Carolina University.
