JBU women’s soccer to host Friends in NAIA tourney
The John Brown women’s soccer team will play Friends (Kan.) at 6:05 p.m. Thursday at Alumni Field in the 2021 NAIA Soccer National Championship Opening Round semifinal of the Siloam Springs Bracket.
John Brown was selected as one of 10 host sites comprised of 40 total teams, and the Golden Eagles punched their ticket to the national tournament last Friday with a 2-1 victory over Science and Arts in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.
The other semifinal match, starting at 3:05 p.m. Thursday, will be Benedictine (Kan.) versus Cumberlands (Ky).
The winner of Thursday’s semifinal matches will play in the finals at 12:05 p.m. Saturday and advance to the final site at Orange Beach, Ala., Nov. 30-Dec. 6.
The Golden Eagles are 17-1 overall and won the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season title along with the tournament title. JBU is the No. 1 seed in the Siloam Springs bracket.
Lauren Walter leads JBU with nine goals along with eight assists for a team-high 26 points. Vanessa Reynoso has 24 points (five goals, 14 assists), while Megan Hutto and Pam Seiler each have seven goals and four assists for 18 points.
Goalkeeper Caitlyn Logan is 17-1 in goal this season with 37 saves and six goals allowed.
The Golden Eagles’ opponent, Friends, was the regular season runner-up of the Kansas Collegiate Conference. Friends went 11-5-3 overall and 8-1-3 in league play. Friends is the No. 4 seed in the bracket. Kelly Larosee leads Friends with 15 goals and eight assists.
Cumberlands earned the No. 2 seed after finishing runner-up in the Mid-South Tournament. Cumberlands went 15-5-1 overall during the season.
Benedictine was the No. 3 seed and earned an at-large bid after going 14-5 overall. The Ravens lost to John Brown 1-0 to open their season.