OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian University women's soccer team honored their lone senior – Amaris Smitherman – on Tuesday afternoon, and the Lady Evangels were hopeful to get a result that would give them some momentum heading into the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament. When the day was done, however, MACU had instead suffered a third straight defeat.

MACU (9-6, 4-5 SAC) allowed an early goal on a free kick, and the Lady Evangels were unable to get much rhythm offensively, falling to the Texas Wesleyan University Rams (13-3, 8-2 SAC), 3-1. 

MACU committed a foul just outside the box in the 13^th minute, and it led to the first goal of the game. Samantha Moore of the Rams lined up and took the free kick, sneaking it just over the outstretched finger tips of MACU goalkeeper Jennifer Starwalt and under the crossbar, as the Rams took a 1-0 lead. Just over four minutes later, Tameir Grosvenor scored for the Rams, chipping a shot over an aggressively charging Starwalt to double the lead, and the Rams took the 2-0 lead into the half.

Megan Register made it 3-0 in the 66^th minute, but MACU kept pushing to try and get on the board. In the 83^rd minute, Alissa Tapp took a corner kick for the Lady Evangels, and Casey Riley headed the ball home to cut the margin to 3-1. MACU had a chance to cut the margin to one in the 87^th minute, but the shot went high, and Texas Wesleyan held on to win 3-1.

The loss, coupled with a win by St. Gregory's University over Bacone College, dropped the Lady Evangels behind the Cavaliers in the standings by one point. MACU does still have the postponed match against Central Christian College to play before the SAC seedings can be determined for the Tournament.

Starwalt (7-5) took the loss in goal for the Lady Evangels, despite making 12 saves in the match. Lauren Bond (2-1) earned the victory with the one goal allowed and four saves.

MACU will have to hit the road on Wednesday afternoon to make up their previously rained out match at Central Christian College (4-13, 1-8 SAC). The Lady Evangels need a win or a tie in the match to secure the sixth seed in the SAC tournament. The match will kick off at 2 p.m.