The John Brown women's soccer team began to figure things out early in the second half of their season-opener Friday night.
The No. 18-ranked Golden Eagles scored two quick goals in the second half, including the game-winner from senior Sara Frey, and rallied for a 2-1 victory against No. 25 MidAmerica Nazarene in front a large opening night crowd spread all over Alumni Field.
With the win, JBU also won its 22nd straight match played at Alumni Field, a streak dating back to the 2015 season.
JBU (1-0), the defending Sooner Athletic Conference champions and the pick to win the 2017 league title, played 21 different players, including several substituations in the first half.
But the Golden Eagles were not able to get anything going offensively, and they went into halftime down 1-0 after MNU's Lyric Henderson scored with 27.6 seconds left in the first half on an open goal.
JBU starting goalkeeper Hannah Poor came out of her box and got tripped up with teammate Annika Pollard. That left the goal wide open for Henderson who scored from 25 yards out to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead.
"I thought we definitely struggled in the first half," said JBU head coach Kathleen Paulsen. "Obviously we had a lot of players in different positions. We were trying some stuff out. We figured some stuff out in the second half."
John Brown didn't wait long to respond in the second half.
Junior Jastin Redman scored with 39:16 left in the second half after junior Anna Brown played a ball in and junior Melody Hagen also helped get the ball to Redman.
Her goal made it 1-1, but the Golden Eagles weren't done.
With 33:02 left, Brown and Aspen Carpenter connected on passes and found an open Frey in front of the goal, and she smashed a laser from the top of the 18-yard box for what would be the game-winner.
"The girls were pinging the ball around, creating space, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time," Frey said. "We hit a good ball coming in, and it just happened to bounce out in my direction after a layoff from Aspen Carpenter. It just gave me that perfect set up for a shot."
Statistically, John Brown outshot MidAmerica Nazarene 18-7 in shots and 5-3 in shots on goal.
Brown finished with a pair of assists for the match.
"A.B. had some fantastic balls in and beat the back line and we put them away," Paulsen said. "I said we need to take care of business and take care of it early. I think we did that."
Poor played the entire first half in goal and made two saves, while freshman Caitlyn Logan played the entire second half in goal without having to record a save.
John Brown returns to action at 1 p.m. Thursday at No. 16 Cumberland (Tenn.). The Phoenix defeated John Brown 2-1 in the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament last year to end the Golden Eagles' season.
Sports on 08/27/2017