In the final game of the regular season, the women’s soccer team (11-4-2, 5-1-1) beat ASUN opponent NJIT (6-9-3, 2-5) 3-0 Saturday afternoon at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex.
For senior day, the Lady Bisons celebrated four senior student-athletes: Anna Buhigas, Alesondra Colbert, Lyndie Donegan and Carolyn Springsteen. This group will graduate with the highest win total for a class in the program’s history.
“They mean the world to this team in the sense that they were the first recruiting class of mine,” head coach Kevin O’Brien said about the seniors. “They really show that we can have a winning Christ-centered soccer team, mixing character and caliber.”
Lipscomb came out strong in the first half, pressuring on both sides of the ball and dominating time of possession. The physical style of play led to many steals on defense and constant passes through holes of the Highlanders’ defense.
Eventually this lead to an arching pass from freshman forward Olivia Doak that junior midfielder Natalie DuBoise crushed with a header to the left side of the net in the 26th minute.
Just three possessions later in the 33rd minute, a counterattack for the Lady Bisons left sophomore forward Maycie McKay open in the left corner of the final third. She sent a quick cross to junior forward Ellen Lundy, who turned and scored to the top right corner of the goal, giving Lipscomb a 2-0 lead.
The two goals in the first half were DuBoise and Lundy’s sixth goal of the season for each player.
The Lady Bisons look the lead into halftime, outshooting NJIT 11-2 with a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal in the first 45 minutes.
“The priority is defending, and we are going to take care of business for the rest of this half and not let in any goals,” O’Brien said at halfitme.
The Bisons did just that.
Lipscomb again came out aggressive in the second half, immediately delivering a goal in the 49th minute as Maycie McKay maneuvered the ball away from the diving Highlander goalkeeper with freshman midfielder Leah Cernicky then rocketing the ball to the right of the open goal.
It was Cernicky’s first goal of the season and McKay’s team-leading sixth assist, giving Lipscomb a 3-0 lead.
The Lady Bisons continued strong possession play for the rest of the half, holding the back line and refusing to concede a goal.
The team finished the game with 17 shots and nine on goal compared to NJIT’s two shots and none on goal.
Lipscomb has now outscored its opponents 9-0 in the last two games and will begin to prepare for the postseason.
“Confidence is our attitude right now,” O’Brien noted. “We’ve steamrolled lately, and our confidence is high headed into the postseason.”
As the likely number two seed behind Florida Gulf Coast, the Lady Bisons will get a bye in the first round of the ASUN tournament. If so, the team’s next game will be November 4th in the ASUN semifinal; location and opponent will be announced after the quarterfinal games next weekend.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics