The Bob Jones University women's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw against Meredith College Saturday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.
As today's match got underway, both teams got early shots looking to be the first on the board.
In the 21st minute, a pass from to Meredith players connected right in front of the net that went went right past the fingers of Bruins goalkeeper Margaret Provenzano to see the Avenging Angels go up 1-0. Just two minutes later, a handball in the box earned the Avenging Angels a penalty kick. Provenzano made a diving save to keep the score at just 1-0.
In the 39th minute, Mady Pfaffenroth set up a corner kick for BJU. Her shot sailed about six yards out where Lydia Howell connected with the ball and shot it into the back of the net to even the score at one.
After the halftime break, the Bruins came out strong and the two teams continued to send shots towards the net, but nothing got past either defense or goalkeeper. Despite Meredith outshooting the Bruins 19-7, after 90 minutes of play, the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
"It was great to kick off our season against a quality opponent," said Head Coach Chris Carmichael. "Despite a really sluggish start in the first half we were able to regroup at halftime and come out and play a very strong second half and were very active in the attacking third. We thought we had the game winner on a beautiful cross from Mady Pfaffenroth for a beautiful one touch volley by Shannon Miller into the back of the net but unfortunately was called off the line. It was encouraging to see the movement in the attacking third."
He continued saying, "our defensive line lead by Jane Farr, Brooke Coursen and Estrella Cruz and our holding midfielder Annabelle Gaddis were extremely strong defensively and our goalkeepers Margaret Provenzano and Ryleigh Tootle kept us in the game with highlight stops including Margaret who had a full extension penalty kick save. Our team showed tremendous resilience regrouping at halftime, and I'm extremely proud of them for stepping up when things weren't going exactly as planned and dominating the second half. Meredith also played a great game and we will now get some recovery and turn our focus to a very strong NCAA DII Southern Wesleyan University."
Up next, the Bruins travel to Central, South Carolina for a Wednesday night contest at Southern Wesleyan University as they look for their first win of the season.
