Lady Bears Defeat Tennessee Wesleyan 2-0 for Fourth Straight Victory

The Lady Bears took their conference winning streak to the road against the Lady Bulldogs of Tennessee Wesleyan who had recently received votes in the latest national poll. Both teams were undefeated coming into the contest, which made both sides hungry for a victory in order to attain a lead in the conference standings. 

TWU started off the game strong by taking advantage of some miscues by the Lady Bears and were able to take some shots early. Ashlyn Walloch and the Lady Bears' defense stood strong in the midst of early pressure with Walloch saving two shots. The Lady Bears would regroup, and in the final twenty-two minutes of the half they would not even surrender a single shot attempt. This regrouping by the Lady Bears also led to more offensive opportunities. The Lady Bears would break the scoreless tie with a goal from Megan McCall off an assist from Jessica Lanier in the thirty-sixth minute, but they were not done scoring. Just over four minutes later the Lady Bears would build on their lead with a goal from Jessica Lanier off an assist from Lauren Huston. The Lady Bears took their 2-0 lead into halftime. 

Coming into the match the Lady Bears knew that TWU would be a tough opponent who was talented and well coached, and TWU proved that very fact in the second half. TWU only allowed the Lady Bears to take two shots in the second half as they tried to cut into the lead, look for an equalizer, and possibly take the lead. However, Walloch and the Lady Bears' defense would allow nothing of the kind. Walloch added three more saves to her total for the match, while the Lady Bears denied TWU any shots in the the final sixteen minutes of the match, giving it its final score of 2-0. 

"We knew Tennessee Wesleyan would be good, and it would be a battle, but we stuck together and defended well when we had to and took our chances," said Coach David McDowell. "Today was a game we knew we would have to grind to win and the girls embraced the challenge." The Lady Bears' next match will be on the road at Bob Jone University at 4pm on Saturday September 30th.