The Bruin women brought a new attitude to Alumni Stadium Friday night as they earned their second win of the season, defeating the Toccoa Falls Lions 1-0.
There were no apologies as the Bruins fought hard for every ball and brandished a physical tenacity the home crowd hadn’t seen yet.
“We just push each other in practice and work hard that way, and the more we push each other the better we get,” said defensive captain Sarah Iwanowycz about the new physicality of the team.
The Bruins controlled the ball from the opening tap until the closing whistle as they outplayed the Lions in every aspect of the game.
Passing was quick and accurate, trapping was sharp and the Bruins’ speed to the ball was far ahead of the Lions.
The Barcelona-style offense that Coach Chris Carmichael has been pushing started to come together as Toccoa Falls barely had a chance to possess the ball for the duration of the match.
Freshman Jennifer Wise got the Bruins’ offense rolling with a shot from the left wing that would have been a goal had the Lions goalkeeper not made a diving save to her left to stifle the score and prevent a rebound.
The only goal of the game came 17 minutes into the first half off the right foot of Bruins midfielder Jocelyn Reemtsma. She guided the ball through traffic and fired a shot over the hands of keeper Kaelyn Watson from 24 yards out to give BJU the lead and the eventual win.
The Bruins had several other near-goals, including a loose ball in front of the goal and a nullified corner kick goal. The low score came as a surprise in such a lopsided game, as even the Bruins defenders spent most of the game playing offense at half field.
“We’ve especially tried to get our outside backs involved in the offense by making runs down the side,” Iwanowycz said. “They did a really good job of that this game.”