The Bruins women’s offensive struggles continued on Saturday afternoon against the Reinhardt University Eagles. “We’re still sorting out a lot of things early in the season,” Coach Carmichael said. “So we’re still trying to find the right mix of players. Today was just not a good day, I’ll be honest. We didn’t get the possession going. The last five minutes I liked, but I wish we had that the whole game. We need to do a better job possessing and being more consistent.”
From the opening tap, the Eagles set the pace of the game with a flurry of quick, precise passes. Eagles forward Allie Hale took advantage of a poorly executed pass back to Bruins keeper Tori Anderson and tapped the ball past Anderson for the first goal, helping the Eagles force their controlling style of play on the Bruins for the duration of the first half.
The Bruins’ deficit grew to 0-2 early in the second half as Reinhardt snaked up the field and into the box for a close-range shot, but the goal seemed to spark an offensive for the Bruins, who finally strung some passes together and made their way up the field just enough to evoke some excitement from the quiet crowd. But a Reinhardt forward killed the momentum by pulling a spin move around her defender and stabbing a shot in the bottom left for a quick, nifty score. Reinhardt held up against a late offensive surge from the Bruins and added one more goal, handing the Bruins women a 4-0 loss.
The Bruins earned their first victory of the season on Tuesday night by bouncing back with a commanding 2-0 victory over the Point University Skyhawks. Tight defense and outstanding goalkeeping from Tori Anderson kept the game scoreless until Lauren Peek could assist senior midfielder Sarah Porch for the Bruins’ first goal of the season midway through the first half. Four minutes later, Porch returned the favor and assisted Peek, giving the Bruins women their second, and final, score.
“We did a lot better than we did the other games because we were able to finish,” senior Sarah Porch said. “I think our team defended strongly in the other games, but we just couldn’t finish. We got some more combinations out on the top, and it really helped our team be confident.”