Golden Eagles advance to SAC championship match
Junior Lauren Walter scored two goals and junior Alyssa Henderson recorded her fifth goal in five games, vaulting the No. 22 John Brown University women’s soccer team to a commanding 4-0 victory over Wayland Baptist (Texas) in the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament semifinal round on Monday night (Nov. 7) at Alumni Field.
Freshman Lillian Johnson added a pair of assists, and senior Chloe Griffin and the JBU back line recorded its ninth clean sheet of the season, the sixth for Griffin.
Freshman Aubrey Winter tacked on a fourth goal in the 76th minute – her second of the season – cementing a contest that saw the second-seeded Golden Eagles (14-4-0) hold a 19-9 shooting advantage over the visitors. The sixth-seeded Pioneers (5-8-4) recorded seven of its nine shots after JBU coach Kathleen Paulsen emptied her bench, allowing reserves valuable postseason time. Despite the chances in the latter stages of the second half, WBU was unable to place any of its nine shots on target.
With the win, John Brown continues onto the championship match at Science & Arts (Okla.) on Thursday, Nov. 10. It’s the ninth SAC title game appearance in 10 seasons under Paulsen, where the Golden Eagles are 3-3-2 with four tournament titles to their credit in 2013, 2016, 2020 and 2021. The JBU-USAO matchup in the finals has become a fixture in recent years, with the teams battling it out now in seven of the last eight seasons. The home side has won six of seven meetings in those matchups where the league’s lone autobid was at stake.
The two sides will square off for the title at 7 p.m. Thursday night (Nov. 10) at McLaughlin Field at 7 p.m.
The championship match will be carried live on the SAC Sports Network.
JBU 5, Southwestern Christian 0
Junior Alyssa Henderson scored twice and junior Rachael Stone added a fivepoint effort as the bench produced four of the Golden Eagles’ five goals, propelling the No. 22 John Brown University women’s soccer team to a 5-0 win over Southwestern Christian (Okla.) in the Sooner Athletic tournament quarterfinal round on Thursday afternoon (Nov. 3) at Alumni Field.
Senior Paige Martin tallied her first goal of the season, junior Lauren Walter chipped in with a goal and an assist and junior Giftee Pavatt passed out a pair of helpers as the Golden Eagles advanced to the semifinal round for the third consecutive season.
The Golden Eagle defense held Southwestern Christian (4-8-4) without a legitimate scoring chance and outshot the visitors 25-2 while holding a 9-0 advantage in corner kick chances.
Senior Chloe Griffin needed a lone pedestrian save to collect her fifth individual clean sheet of the season. Celest Lucio stopped eight of John Brown’s 14 shots on goal in the loss.