KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Sophomore forward Kyleigh Gibson scored a pair of goals to lead the fourth-seeded Mid-America Christian women's soccer team to its first win at the NCCAA National Championships since 2015, coming away with a 4-0 victory over No. 7 seed Erskine College (S.C.) at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex on Tuesday night.
Gibson recorded her fourth multi-goal match of the season after heading in the game-winner in the 15th minute and added a second in the 53rd minute of the second half off an initial save. Junior forward Ariadna Ramirez notched her ninth goal of the season with an immaculate 21st minute shot and Liz Lozano tallied her team-leading 14th goal of the year.
With 31:48 on the clock, Mid-America Christian (14-5-1) struck first when Kelsey Henry was able make a fantastic dribble off of a tough bounce on the pass just outside of the box. Once she gained possession, Henry was able to find Gibson streaking down the right side of the box. The redshirt freshman phenom was able to slip her shot in past EC goalkeeper Cheyanne Fuller, who tried to stop Gibson at the point of attack from three yards out.
In the 20th minute, Henry was tripped up going down the right sideline just a couple yards from the corner, setting up a challenging free kick for Ramirez. On the attempt, the Bogota, Columbia native nailed an incredible shot that hooked in the air and deflected off the fingertips of the leaping Flying Fleet goalkeeper and into the back of the net, giving MACU a 2-nil advantage heading into the half.
The Mid-America Christian was quick to add to its lead in the second half when the Evangels were able to spring a breakaway down the left side. From the left sideline, Paola Camacho tapped a pass right to Henry on the left side. Henry quickly fed Lozano sprinting down the middle of the field and her shot from 18-yards out was placed just inside the left post, extending the MACU edge to three just two minutes into the half.
In the 53rd minute, it appeared Ramirez was going to get her second goal of the match after receiving a pass on the left side of the box off a throw-in, but her shot was saved by Fuller on a diving attempt. However, Gibson was in the right place at the right time as she fielded the loose ball on the right side and punched it in from a couple yards out to cap the Evangels scoring.
While the teams were evenly match offensively with MACU holding a slight 12-11 edge in shots over Erskine, the Evangels were far more efficient with their opportunities, placing 10 on-target while only five Fleet attempts were placed on-goal.
Four Evangels took at least two shots, led by Ramirez with three attempts and all being on-target. Henry tallied her first multi-assist match of the season with a pair, giving her five on the year. In goal, Jennifer Starwalt pitched her 11th clean sheet of the season, recording five saves in all 90 minutes of action.
The four-goal differential victory for MACU puts the Evangels in a strong position heading into tomorrow's pool play finale against No. 3 seed Ottawa (Ariz.). If MACU's match against the Spirit ends in a draw, the Evangels would have the goal-differential tiebreaker after Ottawa defeated Erskine 4-3 in yesterday's first match of pool play.
Mid-America Christian and Ottawa will wrap up pool play on Wednesday, Dec. 4 with a 6 p.m. (5 p.m. CST) kickoff at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex.
