OKLAHOMA CITY – Mid-America Christian women's soccer had a sharp return to Sooner Athletic Conference play on Saturday as the Evangels defeated Southwestern Assemblies of God 4-0 on a cold, brisk afternoon at Evangel Field on Saturday.
Redshirt freshman forward Kyleigh Gibson led four Mid-America Christian (7-4-1, 2-1-1 SAC) players into the scoring column with a goal and an assist, Kelsey Henry scored her first game-winner of the season, and both Liz Lozano and Paola Camacho each netted second half goals in the victory over SAGU (2-9, 0-4 SAC).
Henry and Gibson were able to get a pair of early shots on-goal in the opening half before pushing the game-winner across in the 13th minute when Bayleigh Fink's cross from the right corner found the head of Henry in the goal box. Henry's header was well-placed into the top right corner of the goal to give MACU the 1-nil advantage.
It didn't take long for the Evangels to add to it, as Gibson broke away down the right side, cut through the defense and beat the keeper before putting in a contested score against the retreating defender in the goal box, extending the Mid-America Christian lead to 2-0 with 28:19 remaining in the half.
Mid-America Christian took its two-goal lead into the break after not allowing a single SAGU shot in the first half while the Evangels took seven shots and put six on-goal.
The Evangels faced a similar situation in the second half with back-to-back goals within a two-minute stretch. With just over 28 minutes left to go, Marga Franco launched a beautiful cross from the right side that slipped past the keeper to Camacho near the left post, firing an open shot in to extend the Evangels' edge to 3-nil.
In the 62nd minute, Lozano added one more for good measure after Gibson was able to beat the defense down the right side and slip a cross into the middle of the box to Lozano, tapping a shot into the right corner of the net to close out the match scoring.
MACU held the Lady Lions to just two off-target shots for the remainder of the match to wrap up the 4-0 victory.
With an 18-2 edge in shots and a 12-0 margin in shots on-goal, Gibson led the attack with four shots and three on-goal while Henry tallied three on-target shots and Lozano pitched in three shots with two on-goal.
MACU goalkeeper Jennifer Starwalt picked up her third shutout of the 2019 season, improving to 7-4-1 on the year.
Mid-America Christian will return to the road next week, but will not have to go far as the Evangels will travel to Bethany, Okla. for a 1 p.m. match against Southwestern Christian on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
