Worme’s Headers Cement 3-0 Victory over Lions
SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (October 23, 2014) -- For the first time since Sept. 20, the Golden Eagle men’s soccer team (7-6-1, 3-3-1 SAC) is above .500 as freshman forward Jason Worme netted his first two collegiate goals in the second half in impressive fashion, cementing John Brown’s 3-0 victory over Southwestern A.G. (Texas) tonight at Alumni Field.
While JBU took a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute on a Ryan Duncan laser, the hosts were outshot 9-4 in the first half.
“I was glad to see that we grew into the game tonight,” head coach Scott Marksberry said. “We did not play our best defensive soccer in the first half, but we talked about it and fixed it at halftime. I thought we were much sharper, defensively, in the second half.
“On the attacking side, we scored three quality goals tonight, and we created a number of other dangerous chances. It was great to see Jason get his first goals, and Ryan's goal was probably his best finish of the year. We still feel that this season is young for us. Our focus now turns to senior night and playing Texas Wesleyan on Saturday.”
The Golden Eagles regroup after halftime, however, out-shooting the visitors 9-2 in the second stanza that was highlighted by the duo of Worme tallies.
Freshman goalkeeper Adam Holt was tested early and was forced to make four first-half saves. None were more impressive that his diving save on Joel Ramirez in the 30th minute. The keeper did bail himself out of trouble on one occasion when his clearing kick didn’t get the height it needed to clear traffic in the midfield. SAGU was able to launch a shot from center as Holt raced back to the goalmouth. Luckily, Holt’s well-timed jump allowed him to tip the ball over the crossbar and preserve the shutout. Holt ended with five saves in the clean sheet, his fourth of the season.
Duncan opened the scoring in the 34th minute when he tallied his seventh goal of the season and fourth game-winning strike. The play began when sophomore striker Marco Cardona was able to head a ball forward to an oncoming Eli Simonsen. Simonsen picked up his first assist of the evening when his through ball found Duncan running up the right flank. Duncan made no mistake, hammering a ball past SAGU keeper Cesar Espana for a 1-0 JBU lead.
Worme doubled John Brown’s lead in the 74th minute when he cashed in his first collegiate goal and an insurance mark for the Golden Eagles. Junior defender Logan Hellinghausen began the counter-attack by dropping a ball to Simonsen on the right flank. Picking up his second helper of the night, Simonsen sent a perfect cross to the far left post, where an opportunistic Worme headed in the ball in his second collegiate start.
Simonsen earned his third primary assist of the evening just three minutes later as Worme finished off his corner kick on the left post.
Simonsen’s three assists tied a single-game career high, ironically set on Oct. 24, 2013, at Southwestern A.G. last season. JBU rallied to a 5-4 come-from-behind overtime win in the match.
The Golden Eagles ended the match with a 13-11 shooting advantage as Duncan tallied three shot attempts while four other JBU players earned two apiece. Ramirez ended the match with a game-high four shot attempts in the loss. Espana made five saves while surrendering three goals for the Lions.
JBU will return to action in its final regular season home contest on Saturday (Oct. 25) when it hosts Texas Wesleyan at 7:30 p.m.
