Women’s Soccer Thumps Scots in Home Opener
SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- Just like last season's home opener, the John Brown University women's soccer team posted a lopsided 6-0 victory, this time against Lyon (Ark.), at Alumni Field on Saturday (Aug. 20) afternoon.
The Golden Eagles (1-0-0) outshot the visitors 28-1 and left senior keeper Kristen Morency little work in her return after a season-ending injury in the first game of 2015.
Morency (1-0-0) continues to climb the shutout ladder, despite not needing a save, and moves to 27.1 clean sheets all-time, the best in program history.
Sophomore Aspen Robinson buried a pair of goals in her season debut and finished with five points while sophomore Jastin Redman added a goal and two helpers (four points). Junior Sara Frey, sophomore Anne Metz and sophomore Melody Hagen rounded out the scoring for the Golden Eagles.
"Today was just fun to watch the team play," noted head coach Kathleen Paulsen. "A lot of the things we've worked on last spring and in preseason came to life in this game. We still have a lot of room for improvement, but I think we are headed in the right direction. I loved getting to see so many of the girls be successful in their diferent roles. We'll continue to work and I am excited to see where this season takes us."
Frey opened the scoring in the 19th minute when her 30-yard rip from the middle of the field slid under the crossbar, off a nice feed from Robinson. Twelve minutes later in the 31st minute of play, Robinson took a feed from a Frey corner kick and one-time a rocket in the box past the Lyon keeper, doubling the JBU lead.
After taking a 2-0 lead into the intermission, John Brown scored three in the first 15 minutes of the second half.
Robinson added her second of the night when she potted a deflected pass in the box from Redman in the 52nd minute. Metz took a long through ball up the middle from freshman Katherine Haar and buried a shot to the near left post in the 58th minute. Finally, just four minutes later, Hagen finished a Redman free kick into the box from just yards away to continue building the lead.
Redman couldn't help but jump into the scoring mix, adding a tally in the 69th minute from the left side of the box, beating Regan Kowalski to the near post.
Freshman Allie McCraken picked up a helper on Redman's strike in her collegiate debut.
The Scots (0-1-0) used both keepers, including starter Ali Ertl, and the duo combined for 11 saves despite yielding six goals.
JBU now moves to 4-1-0 all-time against Lyon, and 3-0-0 at Alumni Field.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Friday (Aug. 26) when JBU welcomes Bellevue (Neb.) to Alumni Field at 5:30 p.m.
