The Mid-America Christian women's soccer team defensively stifled Oklahoma Panhandle State, holding the Aggies to only three shots as the Evangels came away with a 2-0 win at Anchor D Stadium on Friday afternoon.
SCORING SUMMARY
- 1st Half – MACU – 3:10 – Goal: Annika Gerdau (3) – MACU 1, OPSU 0
- 1st Half – MACU – 16:20 – Goal: Jasmine Morales (2), Assists: Annika Gerdau, Kadin Stinson – MACU 2, OPSU 0
- Mid-America Christian was able to get a couple of good looks within the first few minutes from Jasmine Morales and Francesca Martella, but the Evangels capitalized on their third opportunity. In the fourth minute, an OPSU defender deflected a deep cross from the left side to the middle, but Annika Gerdau was able to track down the loose ball near the left side of the box before rifling in a wide open 12-yarder over the head of the goalkeeper to just under the crossbar to make it a 1-0 game.
- The Evangels were once again able to capitalize on their next opportunity on-goal. In the 17th minute, Kadin Stinson tracked down a cleared ball from outside the left side of the 18-yard box. Catching the Aggies off-guard, Stinson sent a through ball to Gerdau, who re-centered to Morales for an open 10-yard shot toward the left post, swelling the lead to 2-nil.
- Chances were limited for both teams over the remainder of the half as the only on-target shot came in the 42nd minute from OPSU's Faith Cook off a takeaway, but her 16-yarder was weakly struck from the right side toward left post as Makayla Farquharson had an easy save to send the Evangels into half with the 2-0 advantage.
- Both teams were held in-check in the second half as each team was held to one shot on-goal. In the 64th minute, Gerdau was able to break down the left side and slip a shot past her defender running in-stride, but OPSU goalkeeper Mya Szymanski was able to easily corral the shot directed right at her.
- OPSU's lone opportunity came in the 82nd minute off an Aggies free kick from 45-yards out, but Farquharson made an easy snag on the floating kick to secure the 2-nil victory.
- Offense was tough to come by in the match as Mid-America Christian held a 14-3 edge in shots, but only 5-2 in shots on-goal.
- The goal scored by Annika Gerdau was her third of the season, moving into a tie for second on the team while her assist on Jasmine Morales' goal also tied her for first on the team with Francesca Martella with four. Currently, Martella and Gerdau are the only two players on the team in double-digit points with 10 on the year.
- The Morales score marked her second of the season while Kadin Stinson earned her third assist of the 2022 campaign. Morales led the MACU offensive attack with a third of Evangels' shot attempts with five with three being placed on-target.
- By getting the win, Mid-America Christian improved to 5-0 all-time against Oklahoma Panhandle State since the two teams started facing each other in 2019.
- The victory also secured at least a top four spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings for the fourth straight year. By wrapping up Sooner Athletic Conference play with a 5-2-2 record, the Evangels are currently tied for third in the standings with Oklahoma City (5-1-2, 17 points). The Stars play No. 20 Science & Arts on Saturday and if OCU loses that, the Evangels would hold the tiebreaker for the No. 3 spot.
- Overall, MACU ends the regular season with a 6-9-2 record while Oklahoma Panhandle State currently sits in a tie for seventh in the SAC with a 1-6-2 conference mark and a 2-11-2 record overall.
- Mid-America Christian will now await to see who it will face in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament next week. The SAC Quarterfinal match will be played on Friday, Nov. 4 at the Dill Soccer Field. Time of kickoff will be determined after playoffs have been seeded.
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