Junior forward Brooklyn Morgan had a big night, scoring both goals in a solid 2-0 Spring Arbor victory over visiting Taylor Univesity in the Crossroads League semi-final Saturday night.
Morgan was the beneficiary of some nifty dribbling by Crossroads Player of the Year Karly Linton in the 10th minute. Linton weaved through a trio of Trojan defenders before slotting the ball over to Morgan who finished it first time past the dive of Taylor goalkeeper Kristina Griffith. Griffith came up big for her team on several occasions throughout the night, as Spring Arbor had several othe good opportunities to score in the first half but were thwarted by Griffith or naroowly missed the Taylor frame on several occasions.
In spite of a 9-1 advantage in shots, the Cougars could not add to their lead and went into the halftime break up 1-0.
The second half played out much like the first, as Morgan struck again in the 62nd minute. Senior forward and reigning Crossroads League Player of the Week Maegan Smith beat her mark around the corner and slotted a ball across the top of the Taylor six yard box. Griffith dove out to parry the cross away, but knocked the ball directly into Morgan's path who buried in between a pair of recovering Taylor defenders. The goal was Morgan's 11th of the season, while the assist was Smith's 13th.
In a match that saw plenty of physical play, the Cougar's had several other quality chances to score over the course of the final 25 minutes of play, forcing Griffith into some difficult saves, but were unable to find the third goal that they were looking for. Spring Arbor outshot Taylor 19-2 for the match, and put 11 of their efforts on the Trojan frame. SAU also owned a 4-0 bulge in corner kicks.
The Spring Arbor defense of Hannah Adams, Courtney Harrison, Cheyenne Martinez-Trevino and Amanda Curtis along with freshman goalkeeper Sarah Yancer pitched another gem of a game, shutting down Crossroads League Forward of the Year Molly Drooger. Drooger was held to just one shot in the match. The SAU defense picked up it's school record 15th shutout of the season.
"The women showed a lot of tenacity tonight," commented SAU head coach Jason Crist. "We knew that Taylor would fight hard for the full 90 minutes and that they would bring a high pressure, physical style of play with them. Our players did a nice job of matching their intensity and work rate, and we were able to finish a couple of the good chances we created. Overall there was not a lot of flow to the game, but we did a nice job of taking what the game was giving us. It was a good effort and produced a good result. We will be looking forward to using next week to recover and prepare for the final."
NAIA #9 ranked Spring Arbor (17-2-1) will face off with Grace College (15-3-2) in the tournament final. The Lancers dispatched of the University of St. Francis 1-0 in the other semi-final match earlier today. Spring Arbor beat Grace 4-0 in the two side's last meeting in October. The match will take place Saturday, November 10th at the Cougar Soccer Complex. The kickoff time will be announced early next week on this site.
