SILOAM SPRINGS -- A pair of freshman potted their respective first career goals, and senior Chloe Griffin came up with four saves as the No. 11 John Brown University women's soccer team posted a 2-0 victory over No. 22 Benedictine (Kan.) on Friday (Aug. 26) evening at Alumni Field.
With the backdrop of a sold-out First Friday Fútbol crowd in full view, freshmen Aubrey Winter and Olivia Fish each found their own unique way of adding to the John Brown (2-0-0) score, and the Golden Eagles dominated the match in shots (16-8) and corner kicks (12-2).
Winter bent in her tally in the 12 minute when her service from the right corner flag curled over and around Benedictine keeper Olivia Berry, hit the far right post and in, marking the unassisted strike from the elbow of the pitch to hand the hosts a 1-0 advantage.
JBU doubled its lead 14 minutes later in the 26th as junior Ryan Winingham's free kick deep into the box was miss-hit by a Raven defender, and immediately deflected off the head of Fish and up and over Berry for a 2-0 Golden Eagle lead.
The score stood still for the remainder of the 64 minutes of play. The visiting Ravens (1-1-0) did outshoot John Brown by a 5-4 margin in the second half, but head coach Dr. Kathleen Paulsen was able to seven substitutes significant minutes in a top-25 match.
Griffin made a pair of saves in each half, securing her first-career clean sheet. She moves to 2-0-0 on the season as well.
Junior Lauren Walter paced all players with five shots, while Winingham added four, three of which found the target. Berry made four saves on six chances, but took the loss and fell to 1-1-0.
The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Golden Eagles, however, as John Brown rests for eight days before welcoming No. 21 Missouri Valley to Alumni Field on Saturday (Sept. 3) afternoon for a 1 p.m. matinee contest. JBU won the only time the two programs have ever played, a 2-0 result in Marshall, Mo. back on Aug. 18, 2018.
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