Golden Tigers Soccer Wins Two on the Road
The Golden Tigers completed a successful two game road trip to open the 2012 season - beating USC- Beaufort in their first match 6-0 and following up with a 4-3 win over Savannah College of Art/Design. Brenau is currently 2-0 on the young season and will look to carry their winning ways into their home opener this weekend against Georgia Gwinnett College.
The win against SCAD was a first for the Golden Tigers who had not beaten the host team in all of their prior meetings. The hosts actually held an advantage on the offensive side of the ball - outshooting the Tigers 21 to 14 on the day. But, the Tigers were more effective defensively and simply more dangerous on the attack.
The Bees started the scoring when SCAD's Katelyn Leroux headed home a corner kick from the foot of Alexandra Weinberg. Ten minutes later, Brenau answered on a corner kick of their own when sophomore, Jenny Knibbs (Doncaster, England) hit a brilliant volley into the side netting of the goal from a Rachel Zarach (Acworth, Ga) corner kick. The second Brenau goal, scored at the 51:26 mark, was equally impressive with Rachel Zarach combining with Esther Anyanwu(Lagos, Niegria). Anyanwu beat several defenders and delivered the perfect cross to the middle of the goal where Zarach confidently headed the ball home.
Brenau maintained the advantage, turning back six attacks - five on saves by Golden Tigers' goalie Tori Brown, sophomore from Windermere, Fla. Brown had an impressive 11 saves in the match. Brenau attempted a total of seven shots to SCAD's 10 during the first half.
Two unassisted goals by Anyanwu in 72nd and 82nd minutes helped Golden Tigers to move to the 4-1 score. Both goals were well-timed strikes off the foot of Anyanwu into the corner of the Bees goal and beyond the reach of SCAD's goalkeeper, Ciara Thomas. Thomas recorded 5 saves on the day for the host team.
In the final 10 minutes of play, the hosts gained some momentum and scored two goals to get the score to 4-3. However, it was not enough as the defense held strong for the remaining five minutes to close out the match.
An elated Coach Lochstampfor had this to say following the match, "This is a well deserved result for our side that worked very hard for this win. Our play in the first 20 minutes of the second half was excellent and we were able to see the benefits of our training sessions realized. This was a great team effort with some brilliant performances from several players."
The Golden Tigers open at home against Georgia Gwinnett College on Sep. 1 at theAllen Creek Soccer Complex in Gainesville, Ga.