SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- Overcoming an 18-10 shooting disadvantage, the John Brown mens soccer team (9-5-1, 5-1-0 SAC) struck three times in the second half and pieced together a commanding performance in a 4-1 win over Southwestern Christian (Okla.) on Tuesday (Oct. 20) evening at Alumni Field.
With the victory, the Golden Eagles are now alone in second place in the Sooner Athletic table, knocking off SCU (10-5-0, 4-2-0 SAC) back into third place. JBU is just one game behind conference leader Science & Arts (Okla.) for the top seed in the conference tournament.
Senior Guilherme Barbosa scored his first goal of the season in the 35th minute before John Brown opened up the offense and tallied a trio of strikes in the second half.
“Weve felt like all season long weve had the capability of scoring four or five goals in a game,†said head coach Scott Marksberry. “Tonight, we finished our chances. We may not have had as many as we usually do, but we took advantage of the ones available to us. Hopefully, we can keep our strong play going heading into the Wayland Baptist game on Saturday.â€
JBU took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half when sophomore Collin Smith collected a ball and played a forward pass to Barbosa up the middle. Barbosa cut to his left and fired a shot that was blocked, but collected the deflection and buried a shot past SCU keeper Chris Muter to the far right post from six yards out.
The Golden Eagles doubled its lead in the 63rd minute after a beauty of a strike from junior Marco Cardona pushed the lead to 2-0. Starting a give-and-go up the middle, Cardona one-touched a pass to freshman Ryan Williams up the left flank. Cardona then bolted for the goal while Williams chipped a cross into the box. With just Muter behind him, Cardona flicked Williams cross over an oncoming Muter and into the back of the goal for the game-winner. Williams collected his third assist of the season.
In what was the highlight of the night, John Brown went up 3-0 at the 73-minute mark, courtesy of a bomb from senior Zeke Zumbro that was preceded by a complete undressing of the SCU defense by Smith. Smith delayed after a Logan Hellinghausen throw-in, and bolted around a first defender before sprinting through another three towards the goal on the right side. Running out of room, Smith planted a ball back to Zumbro, who unleashed a cannon to the right side of the goal.
Smith finished the contest with two assists on the night.
Williams notched his second assist of the night when he played freshman Kelvin Omondi up the middle of the field in the 82nd minute. Omondi then dashed through the back line, making a defender fall over, and chipping a shot to the left post past Muter. The tally was Omondis second of the season.
Unfortunately, the John Brown shutout streak at Alumni Field came to close moments later when SCUs Jamie Campbell collected his 10th of the season on a penalty kick. The final shutout mark finished at 622:46.
Sophomore Adam Holt finished with seven saves and increased his record to 9-5-1 on the year. His seven blocks tied a season-high. Muter (9-5-0) was hit with the loss, making just one save on five shots against. SCU backup Kyle Mickleburgh offered 8:07 in relief after Omondis goal made it 4-0 in favor of the Golden Eagles.
John Brown now moves onto a pivotal game on Saturday (Oct. 24) when it welcomes Wayland Baptist (Texas) to Alumni Field at 3 p.m.
