The Brescia University men’s soccer team secured a postseason berth with a win over the weekend. The women’s soccer and basketball teams were also in action but failed to earn a victory.
MEN’S SOCCER
Brescia picked up a 5-1 road victory over Ohio Christian for their final match of the regular season in what turned out to be a must-win for the Bearcats. With the win, Brescia secured the sixth seed in the River States Conference Tournament.
Brescia came out aggressive for an early lead. Just seven minutes into the match, Fabian Torres was on the end of a cross and set the ball out for Nikola Kulpinski to tuck away the first goal of the match and his first of the season. Brescia added a second goal just five minutes later when Karim Ndoye got it to Jean Laurent, who sent the header into the back of the net. Laurent provided the assist to Kerby Edme to push the Bearcat lead to 3-0 four minutes later.
Brescia added one more goal before the half ended when Kyle Bleidt send in a cross for Davis Mitchell to score his first collegiate goal, and Brescia held a 4-0 lead at the break.
Ndoye scored again early in the second half with a solo effort, beating three defenders off the dribble and firing one past the keeper. OCU got one goal late in the match.
“The boys knew all week what the task at hand was coming into this match,” said head coach Van Nostrand. “We trained really well this past week, and I felt the boys came prepared and showed it by taking the early lead. Our main goal all year has been to qualify for the conference tournament, and we did that with the win tonight.”
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Ohio Christian was able to score 4 goals in the first half and added one more in the second half to secure a 5-0 victory. The Bearcats have struggled playing a full game this season.
“It is once again a tale of two halves for us,” said head coach David Ralph. “In the first half, we were not looking to maintain possession on any chances we had. We were trying to outrun a team that was faster than us.”
Ohio Christian has given up many shots this season, but Ralph said the team didn’t connect passes to set up chances in the first half. They made some adjustments and had a few good looks from Jessica Embry and Abby Logsdon but didn’t score.
“We have proven all year long we can play with all these teams — we just have had issues making adjustments during the flow of play,” Ralph said. “We have improved so much this year and it is simply indicative of what to expect as we continue to improve.”
Embry, Haley Coons and Nicole Gray played their last match as seniors.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
The Lady Bearcats opened their 2018-19 season on the road in the Chamber of Commerce Classic, hosted by Bethel University in McKenzie, Tenn. They faced No.3 Campbellsville University, and after struggling down the stretch, Brescia fell 109-76.
The Lady Bearcats trailed 30 – 21 in favor of Campbellsville and faced a halftime deficit of 64 – 45. The Lady Bearcats were led by Hallie Fisher with 19 points, and she shot 8-10 from the free throw line. Princess Holloway and Riley Collins each had eight points and Ashli Sheldon had seven, while Loreal Chaney led the team with five rebounds.
The Lady Bearcats played Bethel University in the second game of the tournament, losing 79-60. They were lead in scoring by Fisher and Hailey Kendall with 13 points, and Loreal Cheaney added 11 points.
