Conference champions
JBU women capture SAC crown
Senior Sienna Carballo scored a natural hat trick, and the No. 14 John Brown University women’s soccer team rode a 5-0 victory over Texas Wesleyan to the 2020 Sooner Athletic Conference regular season title on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
A Texas Wesleyan own goal and freshman Lauren Walter’s seventh of the season in the second half cemented the lopsided affair that featured a 30-3 shooting advantage for the hosts.
The victory cements the Golden Eagles (9-0-0, 9-0-0 Sooner
Athletic) with the top seed in this week’s league tournament, slated to begin on Thursday, April 1. It also capped off the program’s third regular season title under head coach Dr. Kathleen Paulsen (2016, 2017) and the fourth time in program history that the Golden Eagles have emerged from the SAC regular season gauntlet unscathed and with a perfect record (2007, 2016, 2017).
“I am really proud of this group,” Paulsen said. “It’s obviously been a wild year and a wild season, but they have consistently shown up day after day and game after game. I keep saying that our greatest strength is ‘the team’ and that is very accurate. We hope to continue that through the conference tournament and take it one game at a time.”
A flurry in the box and junior Megan Hutto’s shot on goal found the hand of a Ram defender standing on the goal line, awarding the hosts the automatic penalty kick in the 8th minute. Carballo stepped up and converted her second of three attempts this season from the line and began what would be an impressive individual effort in the first half.
Carballo scored her seventh of the season just eight minutes later, using a brilliant feed from freshman Ryan Winingham before ripping a 16-yard blast past Texas Wesleyan keeper Reyna Ramirez to double the Golden Eagle lead. Four minutes later, it grew even more.
Sophomore Aubrey Mendez began the play in the midfield and Hutto sent a through ball that sprung Carballo loose into a one-on-one matchup with Ramirez, which Carballo patiently won. The senior calmly sent a strike underneath Ramirez as she came to challenge – opening up a 3-0 lead just 19 minutes into the match.