The Lipscomb women’s soccer team won its ASUN semifinal matchup Sunday afternoon 4-0 over the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.
The top-seeded Bisons took down No. 3-seed EKU to advance to the ASUN conference final for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.
“I mean, it was just such a perfect moment,” Switzerland-born midfielder Emanuela Schurch said. “I’m just so proud of the team, honestly.”
EKU won the previous meeting between the two sides in the regular season, taking a 2-1 victory in Richmond. In Sunday’s match, the visiting Colonels brought the same level of confidence and tested Lipscomb early and often in the first half.
The Colonels controlled about 60 percent possession and converted that into attacking opportunities quickly. In the fourth minute, Gretta Gunn put a shot on target that tested sophomore goalkeeper C. J. Graham. Graham was forced into two more saves before the 20-minute mark, while Lipscomb failed to put a shot on target during that same period.
The home team worked its way into the game as the half progressed, and it became an ideal game for the neutral. Both sides traded possession and put shots up, but it was EKU that held the advantage at halftime with eight shots to Lipscomb’s four.
In the end, though, neither side found the back of the net, and the two sides entered the halftime deadlocked at 0-0.
Reflecting on the situation at halftime, head coach Kevin O’Brien saw the break as a turning point for the team.
“[At halftime], it’s either keep do what we’re doing and lose, or respond with a little bit of character,” O’Brien said, “and they did it, and it was incredible.”
Incredible was indeed the word to describe the performance Lipscomb delivered in the second 45, as it didn’t take long for the Bisons to change the scoreline and the course of the match.
In the 51st minute, Schurch picked up a ball in midfield and carried it through the center of the pitch. Entering the area, she sent a ball through EKU’s center backs that found sophomore striker Molly Grant, who only had to direct the ball into the back of the net in front of goal for the opener.
Lipscomb kept the pressure up, and the Colonels found little answer for it on either side of the ball.
A quarter-hour later, a combination of fortune and sheer brilliance brought one of the best goals in Lipscomb soccer history. Junior center back Logan McFadden launched a free kick from just past the midfield line into the box. The intended pass from 50 yards away caught the Colonels’ goalkeeper off guard and nestled into the top right corner of the goal, putting the Bisons up 2-0 on McFadden’s second goal of the year.
“It kept going and going,” the Birmingham, Alabama, native said of her otherworldly strike. “I was like, ‘Wait — is it?’ All of a sudden, people started running and I was like, ‘Wow!’ It was all emotions and a team effort.
“I think we were just more hungry this time around,” added the converted left-back and former top-100 ranked college freshman in 2018. “When we first matched up in the regular season, I would say they didn’t really see the true Lipscomb, but [today] we showed out and had an incredible energy. Everyone was fired up and wanting to win, going the extra mile to get there.”
On this occasion, the extra mile went much further than two goals. Not to be outdone by McFadden, Schurch added a goal of her own in the 75th minute on a brilliant individual effort at the edge of the box. Left with a few yards of space, the Swiss attacking midfielder curled her shot around the goalkeeper and into the same upper right corner McFadden had found 10 minutes before.
Before full time came around, Grant had one final say on the proceedings with a second goal of the day and eighth on the season. Coming off a pass from defensive midfielder Shelby Craft, Grant launched one from outside the box that struck the crossbar on its way in to seal the deal at 4-0 in the 89th minute.
After an adversity-filled first half, O’Brien was thankful for his team’s response when it mattered most.
“Sometimes, I think players think the game’s gonna come easy,” said O’Brien, who earned his 100th win at the helm with Lipscomb, “and this was an opponent who wasn’t going to allow that to happen.”
The Bisons will host the ASUN final at 6 p.m. Saturday against Eastern Division third seed Kennesaw State, which marks a rematch of the 2019 ASUN Final. Lipscomb won that match at home on penalty kicks, sending it to the College Cup.
Saturday’s match will be broadcast live on The Bison, Lipscomb’s student-run radio station.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics