The Brenau soccer team came out victorious in one of their biggest games in the program's history with yesterday's defeat of the NAIA #12 ranked AUM Warhawks by a 1-0 margin. The Golden Tigers returned home with two key SSAC wins to run their record to 6-2-0 in the conference; Brenau is 10-3-0 overall.
The Tigers came out strong in the first 20 minutes of the match and their efforts paid off. At the 11:40 mark, Esther Anyanwu (Lagos, Nigeria) scored her 20th goal of the season from a Kayla Madsen(Gainesville, GA) assist. Anyanwu received the ball from Madsen, beat the goalkeeper on the dribble and slid the ball in the corner of the goal. Brenau had some nice chances in the next 10 minutes to extend their lead but AUM's goalkeeper, Holly Clarke, made several key saves.
The match then turned into a midfield battle with both teams fighting for control. For Brenau, Linda Chukwuji (Lagos, Nigeria) and Taylor Bates (Locust Grove, GA) in the middle of the field, won many balls and were crucial in the defensive effort. And, Brenau's back four were solid all day with Anna Garrett (Marietta, GA), Janay Hunt (Madison, AL), Elizabeth Campbell (Richmond Hill, GA), and Hannah Norwood (Grayson, GA) turning in strong performances for the Tigers - thwarting AUM's attack and limiting their scoring opportunities. Brenau's goalkeeper, Tori Brown (Windermere, FL) came up huge in the final moments of the match with a spectacular save- diving to push a ball around the post to preserve the shutout. For the match, Brown recorded three saves and took home the shutout while AUM's Clarke recorded 5 saves in the loss.
Coach Lochstampfor comments "This is definitely one of the biggest wins for us. We came out very well against an excellent AUM team and were able to get an early goal. Just as crucial was our defensive effort following the goal- I thought it was one of our best collective defending efforts to date. I'm very proud of this team- to be able to go on the road and get two crucial SSAC victories against very good opponents is huge!"
Next up, Brenau will face Brewton-parker in a home game on Oct. 17th at 5 p.m. The match will be played at the Allen Creek Soccer Complex in Gainesville, GA.
