OKLAHOMA CITY -- Behind a dramatic goal with under six minutes left in the match, the No. 10 John Brown University women's soccer team rode a Tianna Jones tap-in to its third-consecutive Sooner Athletic regular season title Tuesday night (Oct. 28), defeating Oklahoma City 1-0 at Brian Harvey Field.
The crown is the ninth all-time for the Golden Eagles (10-2-4, 7-0-2 Sooner Athletic) and the seventh under head coach Dr. Kathleen Paulsen. With the win, the Blue and Gold completed its sixth undefeated in league play effort in program history (24 seasons).
On a soggy, rain-soaked pitch, the visitors held the majority of the possession in the first half, but the Stars (12-2-2, 5-2-1) nearly took a 1-0 lead into the intermission. Substitute Ali Daugherty fired a shot from the top of the box the required sophomore Marely Fonseca to quickly dive to her right – and the near post – to deflect the strong scoring chance away, keeping the visitors level at the break.
After a 7-3 shooting advantage in the first half, the second half was all John Brown – firing 14 shots towards Stars keeper Candela Blanco, while allowing only two attempts towards Fonseca.
In the first 15 minutes of play in the second frame, the Golden Eagles had fired seven shot attempts and nearly scored twice. Senior Aubrey Winter's shot rattled the post in the 48th minute and – in a moment of foreshadowing – Jones' attempt at goal rang off the crossbar in the 61st as the visiting bombardment showed no signs of slowing down.
While Blanco saved a number of prime scoring opportunities, denying JBU an advantage, the breakthrough finally came in minute 85.
After regaining possession in the midfield, junior Julia Lambert smartly switched fields to senior Kaelyn Mole making her way up the right channel. Mole sent a long dangerous ball into the mixer that was initially headed directly up by an OCU defender. As the Golden Eagles crashed the goal, Jones finally got a boot on the loose ball, depositing her sixth of the season and her first-career game-winning strike.
The Blue and Gold held Oklahoma City to a season-low five shot attempts and kept the Stars from attempting a corner kick – the first of the year for City.
Fonseca completed her three-save effort between the sticks, collecting the eighth clean sheet of the season. Blanco heroically made nine saves on the 10 chances John Brown sent on goal.
As the top seed, the Golden Eagles will now begin its defense of the tournament title – and the league's lone auto-bid to the NAIA National Championships – on Wednesday night (Nov. 5) at Alumni Field. While kickoff time and which opponent will occupy the eight seed are still to be determined, the match will air on the SAC Sports Network and the Urban Edge Network live.
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