The John Brown University men's soccer team managed a 12-2 shooting advantage in the second half, including a 19-8 margin throughout the contest, but William Woods (Mo.) scored the game-winning goal in extra time to stun JBU and the record crowd 1-0 at Alumni Field on Friday.
Setting an all-time record with 1,256 spectators on hand, the Golden Eagle faithful witnessed a difficult defeat as WWU's Harrison Bray struck a well-placed ball from outside the box into the upper left corner to capture the victory in the 92nd minute.
"The crowd was amazing tonight," said JBU head coach Scott Marksberry. "It was very humbling to have such a great deal of support from JBU students, faculty and staff. Then the support from the Siloam Springs community and other parts of Northwest Arkansas made this an awesome night for both teams. I really appreciate all of the planning and organization that went into tonight's event. The lights will hopefully allow us to create better connections with soccer fans in the area, as more people will be able to attend games. Tonight's crowd blew away my expectations.
"It was unfortunate that we did not get a better result, especially given the chances that we created. Hopefully we will learn from our mistakes and clean things up a bit better by Monday night."
After the pregame festivities that included the initial turning on of the lights just prior to gametime, the two squads battled to a scoreless first half. The Golden Eagles (0-3-0) managed four shots on goal, but the Owls' Connor Cable (4-0-1) scooped up all four attempts. Freshman netminder Adam Holt (0-3-0) also turned away both shots directed at the JBU net.
The second half was all John Brown, as the Golden Eagles dictated play the entire second half, but were unable to send a shot past Cable. In the 69th minute, John Brown had its best scoring chance when a ball in the box found the incoming Marco Cardona. The sophomore striker was merely feet away from goal, but a challenging and sprawled out Cable made the save. The 80th minute saw another opportunity, this time for junior midfielder Eli Simonsen. After turning around the collect the ball just feet from the goal line, Simonsen fired the ball over the net.
JBU's last scoring opportunity came in the 83rd minute when Simonsen unleashed a shot from the middle of the box, destined for the bottom right corner. Cable made his eighth and final save of the game by sprawling to his left, a career-high, keeping the score deadlocked at zero.
The Owls (4-0-1) didn't waste much time in the opening frame of overtime as Bray finished the match with his shot from outside the box just 1:12 into the extra frame.
Sports on 09/07/2014