The Bruins dominate the Grace Christian University Tigers 4-0 in the last match of pool play to advance into the NCCAA National Championship.
"I think scoring early and controlling our emotions was a key to this victory," Head Coach Greg Fulton said. "I'm proud of the boys for taking their chances and scoring in the key momemts that gave us the momentum throughout the entire match."
From the opening whistle, the Bruins looked comfortable and had steady possession against the Tigers who no doubt wanted to strike early but could not. The Bruins had a few early runs towards the goal, but it wasn't until the 19th minute when the Bruins struck first. Anthony Ruiz got fouled in the box by the opposing goalkeeper and Mario Figueroa put the penalty kick in to give the Bruins the lead. In the 38th minute, Jake Provenzano scored to give the Bruins a little more comfort to go into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
Going into the second half, the Bruins' confidence was high and the Tigers' was not. The Bruins contained possession for most of the half and capitalized on it a couple of times. Anthony Ruiz connected with Bryce Ramler in the 55th minute to extend the lead even further. To cap off a dominating match by the Bruins, Eli Solomon scored in the 80th minute to give the Bruins the commanding 4-0 lead which held till the final whistle.
With the win, the Bruins won their pool and earned a spot in Saturday's national championship match. They will play Boyce College for the title at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, November 23!
"I'm fully confident in this team for Saturday," Coach Fulton said. "With the amount of growth that I've seen this year, there is no doubt that they could win a national title. It really comes down to being prepared and showing up in the big moments while playing our brand of soccer."
