Oklahoma City, Okla. -- With the 2010 season representing the kind of breakout campaign the program had been gearing for, expectations are sure to be high for the upcoming season. The Mid-America Christian Lady Evangels, under the guidance of last year's Co-Head Coaches of the Year in Zach Bice and Evan Dresel, took a giant leap forward toward becoming an elite team in the powerful Sooner Athletic Conference. The Lady Evangels achieved their highest conference finish since joining the NAIA in 2007 by finishing third with an 8-2-1 mark to go along with a 16-4-1 overall record. 

"Last year was a big step for us because we have viewed each year as a building year and last season was a big piece in that process," Bice said. "A couple of things that we will take away from last year are a heightened level of expectation and an understanding of success. Although we are happy with the season we had last year, we realize we still have a lot of room to grow and improve, so we look forward to that challenge. But we also appreciate how last season equipped us to take that next step."

With the league's highest scoring duo and top goalkeeper returning this season, the Lady Evangels should be primed for another big season.

First-team All-Conference and four-time SAC Defensive Player of the Week performer Melissa Dobie returns for her junior season after anchoring the conference's best defensive unit last year. Dobie was the last line of a defense that ranked first in the SAC in shutouts (12) and goals allowed (16). Individually, Dobie led the SAC in goals-against-average (0.76), shutouts (11) and was third in saves (119). She also recorded six straight shutouts that spanned 569 minutes last season, going from Sept. 6-Oct. 5 without allowing a goal. Junior Amber Sumpter is set to back up Dobie in the net.

"Dobie had a great year last year but we expect her to improve and have a better season this year," Bice said. "One of the things that make a goalkeeper successful is the effectiveness of the backline in front of her and ours was very good last year. The challenge for her will be to get better and to see how she performs under the expectations that she has created for herself by having such a great season. We are confident that she is going to have another great year."

Senior Nicole Farquhar, junior Britnie Dubala and sophomores Michelle Medina and Allison Swyden will each provide valuable game experience at the midfield this season. All four of the returners appeared in all 21 games last year, with Farquhar scoring four goals and finishing second on the team with four assists. Medina scored three times and dished out a pair of assists and Swyden chipped in with four goals and one helper. Incoming freshman Michelle Roberts and Brooke Gassett will also vie for playing time.

"We love the midfielders that we have returning," Bice said. "Nicole Farquhar has been our anchor and, to date, has had the most successful career at MACU. She is exceptionally talented and holds things together for us in the middle."

"We also have a pair of sophomores in Michelle Medina and Allison Swyden who logged a lot of minutes as freshman and had great seasons. We also have Britnie Dubala returning who gives us valuable experience and we added Brooke Gassett to give us depth in the middle. We felt like our midfield was extremely hard working and really kept things together for us throughout the season. Their work rate may have been our most consistent quality throughout the season. We are excited to bring back that continuity and experience into this season. We expect a lot from them this year."

A pair of juniors return to spearhead the team's offensive charge this season, as Kassie Byrd and Julia Nimal represented the SAC's highest scoring duo in 2010. Byrd scored a team-high 16 goals and Nimal scored 14 along with a team-best eight assists. Byrd was a first-team All-Conference pick and Nimal a second-team performer. Both will be counted on heavily to provide the scoring punch this year, along with newcomers Kaci Powers and Chelsea Swisher.

"We are expecting more of the same and a little more out of the two of them," Bice said. "They both had good years last year but I wouldn't say great. They are both great goal scorers, which is what helps our team be successful, and it is a real luxury to have two extremely gifted scorers."

"The reason I say that it wasn't great is because I think they can do even more. I think the nature of a striker is to never be content with the number of goals you score. We also think that they have matured and grown significantly over each of the past two years and we have that same expectation going into this year. Something that is going to help make Julia and Kassie even stronger is the addition of a pair of other dangerous strikers. We are bringing in Kaci Powers and Chelsea Swisher, who are both all-state performers and players that we like a lot."

All-Conference second-team selection Lindsey Neher is back for her senior year and will be counted on again to help anchor a defensive unit that was one of the nation's best last season. Fellow seniors Bertha Fajardo and Kelsey Morris along with junior Karen Moreno also return this year to give Bice and Dresel veteran options on the defensive end. Transfer Lexi Hoenberger along with freshmen Michelle Roberts and Sarah Sabala will provide depth this season.

"We are very excited about our back line going into this year," Bice said. "We have a transfer in Lexi Hoenberger, and then we also added Michelle Roberts and Sarah Sabala to give us depth." "We are returning three seniors in the back who are all strong players with great experience, with two of them being starters in Lindsey Neher and Bertha Fajardo, so we expect big things from them as well as from fellow senior Kelsey Morris. We will definitely miss Rachel Scott on the back line but we are excited about what our new players are going to give us. One of the great things going into this year is that we have stronger depth on the back line."

The Lady Evangels kick off the 2011 season on the road at Southwestern Assemblies of God on Aug. 24 in Waxahachie, Texas. MACU also opened the 2010 campaign against SAGU and came away with a 6-0 victory. The Lady Evangels will then head to Austin, Texas for matches against Huston-Tillotson and Our Lady of the Lake Sept. 9-10, followed by road dates at Southwestern College and McPherson College. The conference opener will take place Sept. 27 at home against Oklahoma Baptist in a rematch of the SAC Tournament quarterfinals that the Lady Evangels won 2-0.

"Our schedule will be tough this year because we are returning some trips from last season, so we will have more matches on the road," Bice said. "However, we really feel like our non-conference schedule is going to do a nice job of preparing us for conference play. The conference schedule is extremely difficult because the teams in our conference always bring in great players and are very tough. But we love the challenge and the opportunity to play against great teams every week during conference play."