Stephens Scores Twice, Penrod Nets Game Winner

Kansas City, MO -  Sophomore forward Kayla Stephens sparked the Eagle's offense this past Thursday, as she scored two goals in the Eagle win over host Spurgeon College. Stephens scored five minutes into the match and early on it looked like Faith could cruise to another victory. However, Spurgeon's dynamic forward Shae Turner kept Spurgeon in the game with a well-placed shot in the 17th minute to pull the Knights even. Stephens scored again four minutes later to push the Eagles back in front, but a series of defensive breakdowns with five minutes to play in the opening half gave Turner another scoring opportunity, which she capitalized on to pull Spurgeon even.

Despite outshooting Spurgeon 12-3 in the first half, the Eagles found themselves tied going into the break. The opening five minutes of play in the second half were shaky for the Eagles as well, as Spurgeon earned a couple of great opportunities. Eagle's keeper Kyla Rounds turned aside one of the Spurgeon strikes, and the other shot by the Knights just missed. The Eagles finally woke up after that and began to control the game for the next 40 minutes. As the Eagles created scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity, the Spurgeon defense finally broke down in the 87th minute and Brenna Penrod found the back of the net for the game-winner for Faith.

Faith outshot Spurgeon 17-3 in the second half and 29-6 overall in the game and Spurgeon recorded 18 saves which kept the game close. Faith will return to action on Tuesday, September 19, when they will host Buena Vista University on Pyche Field at 4:00 PM.