JBU women take down Oklahoma Wesleyan
Junior Katherine Haar ripped a long-range shot in the 29th minute that proved to be the difference as the No. 7 John Brown University women’s soccer team won its fourthstraight outing by besting No. 14 Oklahoma Wesleyan by a 1-0 final score on Saturday night at Alumni Field.
The win places another exclamation point on another weekend that saw the Golden Eagles (7-1) land a pair of victories, also without yielding a goal against. And against Wesleyan (1-21), who fired 15 shots in the contest, 13 in the first half, it proved to be a tall task.
Sophomore Caitlyn Logan was up to the challenge, however, as she steered away seven OKWU attempts on target to match her career high, set earlier this year against No. 2 William Carey (Miss.).
Logan and the John Brown back line combined for its fourth shutout of the season, holding the visitors to just two shot attempts in the second half. Logan made all seven of her saves before halftime.
None bigger than was her save on OKWU’s Kaja Cremin in the 17th minute — a diving two-handed save without allowing a rebound. Cremin torched the Golden Eagles last season with two goals and an assists in Wesleyan’s 3-1 win in Bartlesville.
The Golden Eagles nearly took a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute when freshman Alair Love’s one-touch pass from behind center cleared the Wesleyan back line to a streaking Aspen Carpenter, who was able to fire a shot, but an oncoming Aryza Olague barely deflected the shot wide of the left post to keep the match scoreless.
Finally the Alumni Field fans were given a goal to celebrate in the 29th minute of play. Senior Melody Hagen began the play by intercepting a pass and quickly began the counterattack by slipping a pass in to senior Jastin Redman in the midfield. Redman surveyed the field and gently flicked a pass into the path of Haar running through the middle. Haar unleashed a 35-40 yard blast that slipped through Olague’s fingers to register the game-winner.
The goal seemed to energize the hosts, who went on to out-shoot the visiting Eagles by an 18-5 margin after the goal. The second half was completely in favor of John Brown.
JBU almost doubled its lead in the 54th minute when junior Kathryn Huff’s leaping header at the back off a Kristen Howell corner kick service just sailed above the crossbar.
With time winding down, a fortuitous John Brown foul just past the top of the box allowed Wesleyan one last chance to tie the score at one, but Chloe Johnson’s service sailed over the crossbar, sending the Golden Eagles into Sooner Athletic play with seven wins in eight appearances.
Howell led all players with five shots, while Carpenter, Sienna Nealon, Redman and Vanessa Reynoso each attempted three in the contest.
Cremin paced OKWU with three shots, while Olague made eight saves on nine chances in the setback.
The Golden Eagles will now take well-earned time off for 10 days and return to action on Tuesday (Sept. 25) at Mid-America Christian (Okla.) to open conference play. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m.