Pensacola, Fla. – Lauren Walter scored with a little more than 13 minutes remaining in the match to propel No. 16 John Brown to a 2-1 upset victory over the tournament top-seeded University of the Cumberlands to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2024 NAIA Women’s Soccer National Tournament as the Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex in Pensacola, Fla., Monday afternoon.
 
This is the first time in tournament history that a No. 16 seed has upset a top seed in the tournament as the Golden Eagles snapped the Patriots 23 match winning streak while becoming the only team to score two goals against Cumberlands this season.
 
This is also the first time that the Golden Eagles have appeared in the quarterfinal round while claiming the highest-ranked win in program history.
 
The match was a defensive battle until Julia Lambert took a pass from Walter in the 24^th minute to score to give the Golden Eagles a 1-0 advantage. The Patriots drew the match even in the 65^th minute as Carola Fantan scored to make the score 1-1. Walter gave John Brown the lead in the 77^th minute as she collected a cross from Katherine Keys and slotted a shot past the goalkeeper into the left side of the goal to give John Brown a 2-1 lead.
 
The Golden Eagles only had two shots of goal with both finding the back of the net while having seven total shots. Walter paced the attack with three shots while Marely Fonseca earned the win in goal with six saves.
 
John Brown improved to 16-5-1 on the year and will take on the winner of No. 8 Spring Arbor and No. 9 SCAD Savannah on Thursday, Dec. 5 starting at 10 a.m. in the national quarterfinals.