Drovers Drop Golden Eagles 1-0 on Late Score
SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (October 7, 2014) -- For the fifth time this season, the Golden Eagles (5-5-1, 1-2-1 SAC) fell short in a one-goal match, this time in a 1-0 loss to No. 15 Science & Arts (Okla.) tonight at Alumni Field.
The Golden Eagles fell victim to a shutout for the third time this season and have been held scoreless in eight of its last nine encounters with the Drovers (10-1-0, 3-0-0 SAC).
“Overall, we feel like we played a solid game tonight,” head coach Scott Marksberry admitted. “It was a bit unfortunate to lose on that kind of goal, but that's the way the game goes. We needed to create a few more chances, but we were very solid defensively. There is a chance that our match on Saturday will be our first game with our entire roster available to us, so we are looking forward to building and growing over the coming weeks.”
The match’s only goal game in the 85th minute as a loose ball pinballed into the left side of the Golden Eagle box. As junior defender Will Simonds and USAO forward Jean Gnapi battled, Gnapi managed to get a toe on the ball, just poking it past freshman goalkeeper Adam Holt.
That stood as the match’s lone marker. Holt was called upon nine times to make a save as he finished with eight on the evening. USAO keeper Bryan Byars needed to make only one save, in the first half, as he collected his 39th career shutout. He is now fifth in NAIA history in career shutouts.
Science & Arts enjoyed a 20-3 margin in shots over John Brown. Junior midfielder Eli Simonsen sent two attempts in the match while senior forward Ryan Duncan added the third. Liam Madden launched a match-high six shot attempts for USAO while Niall Burley added four and Stephen Owusu chipped in with three.
JBU will return to action on Saturday (Oct. 11) at Oklahoma Baptist. The match is scheduled for an 8 p.m. start in Shawnee, Okla.
