BETHANY, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian women's soccer team caught fire in the second half, netting a trio of goals to come away with a 3-0 victory at Southwestern Christian on Tuesday.
Junior midfield Liz Lozano led Mid-America Christian (8-3-1, 3-1-1 Sooner Athletic Conference) with her fourth multi-goal match, tallying her 10th and 11th goals of the season while Bayleigh Fink added her fifth goal of the 2019 campaign.
It appeared the Evangels were going to get off to a strong start in the sixth minute when Lozano was able to dribble around the Southwestern Christian (4-7, 3-3 SAC) goalkeeper, but SCU defender Jasmine Snelick made a fantastic play retreating on the back end, blocking Lozano's shot on-goal out the right side to keep the Evangels off the board.
Both teams had limited opportunities in the first half, but the Eagles had the last look with 12 seconds left, but Jennifer Starwalt made the save to keep the game at a scoreless deadlock heading into the break.
The Evangels came out of the break fired up on the offensive attack as Lozano broke through for MACU in the 51st minute. On the game-winning goal, Brooklyn Fink sent a well-placed cross from midfield an open Lozano on the left side of the goal box, dribbling past the keeper and sending a shot into the open net to make it a 1-nil MACU lead.
Eight minutes later, Mid-America Christian was able to get some breathing room after a foul just outside the left side of the goal box on the Eagles. On the free kick, Kelsey Henry's cross found the head of Bayleigh Fink, placing the shot in the top left corner of the goal out of the reach of the keeper to extend the edge to 2-0.
With exactly 10 minutes left in the match, Lozano added one more for good measure when Alex White sent a deep cross from the midfield to a streaking Lozano down the right side, beating the keeper once again for an open shot to close out MACU's 3-nil victory.
Mid-America Christian outshot the Eagles by a 17-6 edge in the match, including a 13-4 margin in the second half while also holding a 9-3 lead in shots on-goal.
Lozano led the attack with seven shots, four of which on-target while Starwalt recorded her third consecutive shutout and her fourth of the season while tallying three saves.
The Evangels will return to action next week as MACU will take on crosstown rival Oklahoma City at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
