Brenau Soccer Wins Against Warhawks

November 4, 2012

The Golden Tigers soccer team punched their ticket to the SSAC's Final Four after a solid win against conference foe Auburn University-Montgomery last night at the Allen Creek Soccer Complex.

The game proved to be a physical and attack oriented one with the visitors outshooting Brenau 19-13 for the match. And, indeed with less than four minutes gone in the match, the home team gave up the first goal on one of those shots taken by AUM's Margaret Albertsdottir when she beat Tori Brown (Windermere, Fla.) on a volley from the top of the box.

The Tigers remained composed and kept working and eventually their efforts paid off when the last five minutes of the half ended in a flurry of activity.

The SSAC's leading scorer, Esther Anyanwu (Lagos, Nigeria) found her form and the back of the net when she took a ball at the top of the box and calmly put it past AUM's Holly Clarke for the equalizing goal. A minute later, midfielder Rachel Zarach (Acworth, Ga.) played Kayla Madsen (Gainesville, Ga.) a perfectly timed pass that she took in stride and beat both the defender and the goalkeeper on a brilliantly struck far post volley to take the Tigers into the half with a one goal lead.

In the second half, the intensity remained high on both sides. The visitors mounted a relentless attack- recording thirteen shots to Brenau's six. But, as has been the case all season, Brown and the back four were solid all game long. Brown, once again, recording several critical saves.

On the day, Brown had a total of eleven saves to Clarke's six. And the defending back four of Janay Hunt (Madison, Ala.), Hannah Norwood (Grayson, Ga.), Anna Garrett (Marietta, Ga.) andElizabeth Campbell (Richmond Hill, Ga.) was outstanding all day.

The Tigers midfield worked tirelessly all match and won countless balls as well as providing numerous serves into forwards Anyanwu and Jenny Knibbs (Doncaster, England). One of those balls once again found the foot of Anyanwu who turned and played a volley into the corner of the goal at the 51^stminute mark to seal the fate of the visitors. For the remainder of the match, Brenau's defense did the job- thwarting constant attacks from the Warhawks.

"I thought this was one of our most complete efforts to date. Despite going down 1-0 early in the match, our team did not lose its focus and came back with a monumental effort for the duration of the game against a very good team. I'm very proud of this team!" - An excited Coach Lochstampfor following the match.

With the win, Brenau runs its record to 13-4-0 overall- the best in the history of the program. The team will travel to Montgomery, Ala., for a re-match with the Lee University Lady Flames- the No.1 seed in the tournament and a winner over the No.8 seeded Belhaven Blazers. The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. EST at the Emory-Folmar Soccer Complex in Montgomery, Ala.