Box Score The Bruins completed their road trip to Jacksonville, Florida with a 2-0 win over Trinity Baptist College.
Due to short rest, Head Coach Chris Carmichael thought it was best to rest the regular starters a little bit today and give the bench some quality minutes. Today marked the first career start for many of the Bruins.Â
"After playing a very tough match yesterday against NCAA DII Edward Waters University and earning a well fought win, we needed the depth of our talented roster to step in and get a lot of minutes and to help us get an important regional win," Coach Carmichael said.
The first half was controlled by the Bruins even with a different starting lineup than normal. The score remained 0-0 for almost the entire half, and the Bruins defense was able to stop a few scoring threats from the Eagles. When most of the regular starters were put in, they started to attack immediately. The Bruins had 16 shots in the half and it wasn't until the 45th that Mia Marks finally found the back of the net making it 1-0 going into halftime. That was her team-leading 6th goal of the season.
"Trinity Baptist College fought hard and had some moments where they created some dangerous situations for us to deal with," Coach Carmichael said, "but our defensive line again held strong for both rotations of players."
The second half looked a lot like the first. The Bruins out-shot the Eagles 10-2 and had 5 corner kicks in the half, but still struggled to score. A free kick was given to the Bruins in the 74th minute outside the box near the corner. What many thought was going to be treated like short corner turned into a shot by Elli Cummings that curled in over the goalkeeper's hands. That marked her 4th goal of the season. The Bruins mostly controlled possession until the final whistle and came away with a 2-0 win on the road.
After the game, Lauren Green was happy with the win, but knows there needs to be improvement. "I thought we played ok overall," she said. "We struggled to connect well in the midfield at times and tended towards playing passes a few touches too late. It was a good win but definitely room for improvement in our speed of play."
Madison Avelino, who made her first career start, was proud of the control the Bruins showed. "I think the team as a whole played really well together and did a good job controlling the game," she said. "We did well possessing the ball to tire out the other team and getting shots off. Overall I'm proud of the team's performance and the effort that each player put in for the win."
The Bruins have another short break before their next match. They are back home at Alumni Stadium Monday at 1 p.m. when they face the Campbellsville University of Harrodsburg Pioneers.
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