Brenau Soccer Falls In SSAC Semifinals
After falling into an early deficit, the #12 Brenau Golden Tigers soccer team fought valiantly but came up short in the SSAC semifinals, falling to #17 Martin Methodist College 3-2 on Thursday.
Brenau's early struggles put them in a 2-0 halftime deficit as Martin Methodist seized control of the match in the first half. In the 11th minute, the RedHawks notched their first goal of that match, while in the 43rd minute the RedHawks scored their second goal of the half to take a 2-0 lead into intermission.
The Golden Tigers finally got on the scoreboard, when in the 54th minute, senior Esther Anyanwu (Lagos, Nigeria) took a pass from Vanessa Alexander (Toronto, Canada) to make the score, 2-1.
However, the momentum from Anyanwu's goal was short lived as Martin Methodist added to their lead with a goal in the 67th minute to make the score 3-1.
In the 71st minute, Brenau continued to press the RedHawks as Anyanwu took a rebound off a penalty kick and buried it in the back of the net to cut the lead to 3-2.
Over the next 19 minutes, the Golden Tigers continued to attack, but came up short in the end. Brenau outshot the Martin Methodist 17-7 for the match, but were unable to capitalize on their opportunities.
"We came out very slow the first half and the combination of that and a different line up caused some challenges. At half time we adjusted, came out and owned the second half," said head coach Mike Lochstampfor. "We scored two nice goals, and had some tremendous opportunities to equalize, but it wasn't to be and we ran out of time. I am proud of how we battled back the second half. It was a tough loss".
Junior keeper Tori Brown (Windermere, Fla.) saved two shots for the Golden Tigers, while Aisling Dyer saved eight for the RedHawks.
The Golden Tigers now wait for an opportunity to receive an at-large bid in the NAIA National Tournament, which will be announced at the conclusion of the conference tournaments.