THOMASVILLE, Ga. – Something had to give Wednesday night at Remington Park, as a red-hot Thomas University women's soccer team met 2015 Sun Conference regular season champion and 19th-ranked SCAD-Savannah, who rolled into town without a conference loss.
 
When the final whistle blew, it was the Lady Bees unbeaten TSC mark that no longer stood, as the Lady Night Hawks ousted #19 SCAD 3-2.  The team received goals from Katy Hanscomb, Linnea Roivas and Adrianna Johnson, whose 86th minute free kick goal turned out to be the winner.
 
The match was not only significant in terms of conference seeding, as Thomas clinched home-field advantage for the first round of the TSC Tournament, but also in terms of keeping momentum, as the win will see Thomas into the postseason playing its best soccer of the season.
 
"I was very pleased with the team's performance today," said Lady Night Hawks' head coach Julie Orlowski. "Not only in terms of the win itself but in the way we played.  Going up two goals, conceding the lead and then finding the winner shows a lot of character."
 
Thomas seemed poised to cruise through the match Wednesday, as goals from Hanscomb and Roivas just seven minutes apart saw the Lady Night Hawks, who are now above .500 at 9-8 (6-4 TSC), go up 2-0.
 
The regular season conference champion Lady Bees had different ideas, however, as the team showed its resiliency to climb back into the match.
 
Captain Natalie Besl cut the TU lead in half off a corner kick just before the halftime break and Olivia Buechler equalized in the 59th minute, a goal that positioned the Lady Bees well to post an unbeaten conference regular season.
 
SCAD-Savannah seemed likely to go in front as the second half wore on, but Thomas keeper Sara-Ann Hartley made several saves on shots fired at point blank range to keep the Lady Night Hawks on level terms.
 
"She's always been a tremendous shot-stopper," Orlowski said of the senior goal keeper.  "We don't want her to have to make those saves, but it's good to know that the other team will still have to work to get a goal from close range.  She certainly makes them earn it."
 
Johnson then scored an improbable goal from a free kick several yards outside the box, as her effort bounced and narrowly avoided two Lady Night Hawks' attempts to head in the winner.  Instead, the bouncing ball fooled the Lady Bees' keeper and found the side netting to seal what was an impressive effort from Thomas.
 
With the win, the Lady Night Hawks seal a top four spot for the conference tournament.  The team, which was 4-7 at one point after a brutal early-season schedule, has now won a season-high four consecutive matches.
 
"Experience can sometimes result from failure, and we had a lot of failure early on," Orlowski said of her team's obvious improvement over the course of the season.  "We learned from that failure, though, and we're a much better team now.  Everybody knows and embraces their roles and that enables us to improve."
 
The Lady Night Hawks will now enter post-season play on Mon., Nov. 9.  Thomas will host the Sun Conference Quarterfinal round at 2:00 p.m. at the TU Soccer Complex and now await the official announcement on first round matches, which will come at some point early next week.
 
"Our expectation for the conference tournament is to take things one game at a time," Orlowski concluded.  "We're fortunate in that when we get there, we'll have the opportunity to earn some redemption."
 
Scoring Summary
29:20 – (Thomas) Katy Hanscomb, assisted by Rebekah Wiltshire
36:00 – (Thomas) Linnea Roivas, assisted by Adrianna Johnson
42:03 – (SCAD-Sav.) Natalie Besl, assisted by Kelly McKay & Zola Owsley
58:12 – (SCAD-Sav.) Olivia Buechler, assisted by Laerke Michaelsen
85:28 – (Thomas) Adrianna Johnson (unassisted)

By the Numbers
1 – Corner kicks taken by Thomas
5 – Shots on goal by Thomas
7 – Saves made by Thomas keeper Sara-Ann Hartley
13 – Shots taken by Thomas
28 – Number of combined shots by SCAD-Savannah and Thomas
 
For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by play, and feature stories of your TU women's soccer team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksWSocc.