OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- The John Brown womens soccer team (9-4-3, 5-2-2 SAC) avoided a scare in the opening minutes as sophomore striker Braydi Frederick and freshman midfielder Sara Frey each tallied goals, allowing the Golden Eagles to earn a come-from-behind victory this afternoon over Mid-America Christian (Okla.) at the MACU Soccer Field in Oklahoma City.
Junior goalkeeper Kristen Morency had to corral nine MACU shots in the win, setting a season-high en route. With the win, Morencys all-time record now stands at 32-13-7.
If it werent for a bit of bad luck, Morency would have collected her 25th career shutout, but the Evangels found the board within three minutes of play when a corner kick inadvertently deflected off a Golden Eagle player past Morency.
John Brown showed resolve, though, as JBU out-shot the hosts 17-12 on the afternoon, forcing MACU keeper Kaitlyn Whitten to make 10 saves on 12 shots on goal.
"Today was a really great step for us," admitted head coach Kathleen Paulsen. "I was realyl proud of how we came back from an own goal. I think it built some confidence we needed going into the conference tournament."
JBU responded with a goal in the 34th minute when Frederick picked up her fifth goal of the season. Frederick blasted in a shot from 25 yards away past Whitten, allowing the Golden Eagles to pull even, 1-1. Junior midfielder Nicole Kosin earned her first assist of the season on the play.
With a commanding 10-6 shot advantage in the first half, John Brown went back to work in the second, looking to secure a best possible seed for next weeks Sooner Athletic Conference tournament.
Luckily, Frey was able to score on an unassisted effort in the 56th minute to earn the game-clinching goal. It was Freys second game-winner of the season.
The Golden Eagles nearly missed out on a 3-1 win, but senior forward Laura Garcias attempt early in the second half rang off the crossbar, leaving the teams deadlocked at one apiece until Freys strike 10 minutes later.
Frey and Garcia each had a team-leading four shot attempts in the match. Frey ended with three on goal while junior defender Alex Fahr sent two shots at Whitten in the win. Chelsea Swisher notched a match-high five shots, three on goal, but Morency deflected aside all nine shots by Evangel players sent her way.
JBU will now take the rest of the week off while the remainder of the conference plays out the ninth and final match for each respective program. Seedings for the conference tournament will be released early next week.
