Brenau Beats Faulkner in Dramatic Fashion

Anyanwu opened the scoring only four minutes into the game when Monica Sanchez(Miami, FL) played her a nice ball down the middle and Anyanwu beat a defender before putting it away. Brenau's goal provided momentum for both teams- though the Eagles response resulted in the equalizer from Faulkner's Hailey Gutierrez in the 20^thminute off of a mis-cleared corner kick.

The match went back and forth with the Tigers having the better of the chances. In fact, Anyanwu had 2 shots that went inches wide of the goal in the second half. It was Faulkner that got the go-ahead goal in the 78^th minute when Cassie Wilcox scored the second goal for the host team. That lead would last until an inspired and relentless Brenau offense would get the equalizer with 1:45 left on the clock. Anyanwu took a feed from Jenny Knibbs (Doncaster, England) dribbled around Faulkner's goalkeeper and tucked the ball in the net.

Both teams went through the first overtime with no result. In the second overtime period, Anyanwu jumped on a ball played in by Knibbs again and found the back of net for the "golden goal" and her hat-trick was complete! For the match, Brenau outshot the host team 16-13 and goalkeeper Tori Brown (Windermere, FL) recorded 4 saves against 7 for the Eagles goalkeeper- Caitlin Sebert. Brenau's midfield and defensive efforts were solid all night with strong performances in both areas of the field.

Coch Lochstampfor had this to say following the match," I thought we did well at times during the match but struggled to get our attack organized to the degree we have in other games. And, credit to Faulkner as they did a great job of stifling some of our efforts. I thought we defended well for the most part and - most importantly- our team never gave up, even with our backs to the wall!"