OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's soccer team is prepared for its first neutral site contest of the 2020-21 season as the Evangels will be taking on Manhattan Christian (Kan.) at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas for a 4 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.
 

LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian completed its home-and-away sweep over Arizona Christian back on Oct. 8 at Evangel Field as MACU came away with a 4-0 victory over the Firestorm.
Senior midfielder Liz Lozano continued to be the catalyst of the Evangels offensive attack, notching her third multi-goal and five-plus point match of the season with a pair of first half scores and an assist on one of Kelsey Henry's second half goals.

Henry notched her second multi-goal match of her career, both of which coming against ACU when she scored two goals in last season's 4-1 win over the Firestorm in Phoenix. Redshirt sophomore forward Kyleigh Gibson dished out a career-best three assists to move into a six-way tie for the second-most assists in a single match during the NAIA era.

 
SCOUTING THE THUNDER
Manhattan Christian is heading into its Friday night matchup against Faith Baptist Bible (Iowa) with a 1-6 record as the Thunder are trying to seek revenge for a 3-0 loss in Ankeny, Iowa to the Eagles back on Oct. 6.

MCC has struggled in the attack, scoring just three goals in its seven contests, all of which coming in a 3-1 win at Arlington Baptist (Texas) on Oct. 3. Elly Johnson, Sarah Ward and Kelcie Wickwire were the three goal-scorers for the Thunder in their lone win of the season.

Hailey Culp will likely get the start in goal for Manhattan Christian, starting in all of MCC's matches this year and allowing a 5.2 goals against average on a .649 save percentage.

 
HISTORY WITH THE THUNDER
Mid-America Christian will be playing Manhattan Christian for just the third time since the Evangels moved up to the NAIA level in 2008. The two previous meetings both came during MACU's highly successful 2017 campaign. In the Aug. 29 meeting at Evangel Field, MACU scored a then NAIA era record 14 goals in a 14-0 shutout over the Thunder. Nine different Evangels scored in the contest, led by Allyson Pamplin with three goals.

In their following meeting in Manhattan, Kansas on Sept. 18, the Evangels once again scored early and often in a 9-0 victory. Pamplin led the way once again with two goals and two assists while Kierra Morgan also chipped in a pair of goals and two assists in the victory as well.
 

OH HENRY!
Senior forward Kelsey Henry will be looking to keep playing at a high level after her two-goal outing against Arizona Christian last week. After scoring four goals in 21 matches last season, the Arima, Trinidad & Tobago product already has three goals through three games during the 2020-21 season. Henry has been more involved in the MACU attack, averaging 2.7 shots per game after finishing the 2019 campaign with just a 1.2 shots per game average.
 

GIBSON GIFTING GOALS
Even though Kylie Gibson, who was one of the team's best strikers during the 2019 season with 14 goals is working her way back from injury, the redshirt sophomore forward has still been able to make plays in the MACU attack even though the Moore, Oklahoma native has been limited to just one shot in the last two games. With three assists in the last contest, Gibson has a total of four so far, averaging an NAIA best two per game.
 

STAT LEADERS

• Goals: Liz Lozano (11), Joanne Nakirya (4), Two Tied with Three
• Assists: Liz Lozano (4), Kyleigh Gibson (4), Three Tied with Two
• Points: Liz Lozano (26), Joanne Nakirya (8), Veronica Lopez Cordero (7)
• Shots: Liz Lozano (19), Joanne Nakirya (18), Veronica Lopez Cordero (10)
• Shots On-Goal: Liz Lozano (15), Joanne Nakirya (11), Two Tied with Five
• Goalie Wins: Jennifer Starwalt (3)
• Saves: Jennifer Starwalt (8)
• Shutouts: Jennifer Starwalt (2)