Tuesday evening, the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (1-1, 0-0 SAC) picked up their first victory of the season, with a 4-1 triumph at Bethel College (0-3, 0-0 KCAC).
The win was made even more meaningful as it was Head Coach Jimmy Hampton's 600th career victory, between the Drover women's and men's teams. In his 25 years at USAO, Hampton has led the women's team to a 283-164-24 record, and the men to a 317-125-25 clip.
In his career, Hampton has been selected as the Sooner Athletic Conference or National Soccer Coaches Association American Southwest Region Coach of the Year nine different times. Hampton has coached 182 all-conference players, 43 NAIA Scholar Athletes and 39 NAIA All-Americans in his 24 seasons at Science & Arts.
Hampton has had 13 different teams (seven men, six women) that have qualified for the NAIA National Tournament with quarterfinal appearances in 2010 and 2011. His teams have won the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship eight times while winning the SAC tournament championship an amazing 13 times. Additionally, he led the men's team to the 1998 and 1999 Red River Conference championships.
To open the game, neither team was able to strike in the opening few minutes, but the Drovers were able to get on the board first with Alicia Rey (SO/Valladolid, Spain)'s rebound-goal in the 25th minute. USAO pushed the lead to 2-0 in the 34th minute as Emma Rice (SR/Norman, OK) scored off an assist from Alicia Rey. The score remained 2-0 going into halftime.
Following the break, Emma Rice extended the Drovers' lead to 3-0, as she found the back of the net on a penalty-kick in the 58th minute. Six minutes later, Alicia Rey scored her second goal of the game on a penalty-kick, giving the Drovers a 4-0 advantage.
With less than a minute remaining in regulation, Bethel was finally able to break through and score their first goal of the game, but it was far too little, too late.
Ashlyn Lonberg (FR/Edmond, OK) was nearly perfect between the pipes for the Drovers, allowing just the one goal.
As a team, the Drovers attempted 13 shots, with 10 of them going on goal, while the Threshers attempted just six shots, and only two of those were on target.
With the pair of goals, Emma Rice has now struck for 113 goals in her historic career. Alicia Rey has now scored 32 goals since 2020.
Original source can be found here
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