WSOC Arizona Christian Pregame - 10/7/20

Women's Soccer 10/7/2020 2:20:00 PM Adam Stanek - MACU Sports Information

Women’s Soccer Set For Rematch Against Arizona Christian

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's soccer team will be looking to stay hot against the Firestorm on Thursday as the Evangels will be looking to sweep Arizona Christian in a rematch of last season's early September matchup. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. at Evangel Field.

LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (2-0) made history in its last outing back on Sept. 26. In the Saturday afternoon matchup against Texas A&M-Texarkana, the Evangels dominated the Eagles by scoring eight second half goals to come away with the 10-1 victory.
It was the first time in the history of the program that MACU had scored 10 or more goals in its first two matches of the season after getting a 12-0 victory at Bacone (Okla.) back on Sept. 5.
Senior midfielder Liz Lozano made some history of her own when she tied Kaci Power and Sylvie Willie's NAIA era single match goals record with five and by also dishing out a pair of assists, she broke the single match points record outright with 12.
In her return from a season-ending knee injury against Ottawa (Ariz.) at the NCCAA National Championships last season, redshirt sophomore forward Kyleigh Gibson scored her first goal of the season in the 55^th minute to extend the MACU lead to 5-0 at the time. Gibson was the team's leading scorer during the 2019 campaign with 14 goals.

SCOUTING THE FIRESTORM
Arizona Christian will enter Thursday afternoon's contest with a 1-1 record after facing two other Sooner Athletic Conference opponents to open the season. On Oct. 1, the Firestorm traveled to Plainview, Texas and challenged the Flying Queens, but ultimately fell by a score of 3-2. However, ACU was able to bounce back two days later in Goodwell, Oklahoma by picking up a 3-0 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State.
Through those first two matchups, Irene Ledezma and Adrianna Contreras lead the Firestorm's offensive efforts as each have scored a pair of goals. Sarahie Torres has also made an impact in the ACU lineup with a goal as well as one of the team's three assists.
On the defensive side, Jackie Poortinga has played in 171 of the 180 minutes at goalkeeper for the Firestorm and has posted a 1-1 record with a 1.58 goals against average. Poortinga has made four saves on a .571 save percentage.

HISTORY WITH THE FIRESTORM
The two teams faced each other for the first time in the program's histories last season in Phoenix on Sept. 2, as Mid-America Christian jumped out to an early lead and never looked back to pick up its first win of the 2019 campaign by a score of 4-1.
The Evangels scored two goals in the first seven minutes with Kelsey Henry notching the go-ahead goal in the sixth minute while Kyleigh Gibson pushed across the game-winner less than a minute later to give MACU the 2-nil advantage. Gibson and Henry each finished with a pair of goals scored in the victory.

SECOND HALF SCORING
Through the first two matches of the season, the Mid-America Christian attack is working at peak efficiency, especially in the final 45 minutes of its matches. Of the 22 goals the Evangels have scored so far in 2020, 17 of which have come in the second half. The Evangels are entering Thursday's contest as the second-most prolific offense in the NAIA, averaging 11 goals, seven assists, 34 shots and 21 shots on-goal per game.

HIGHS AND LO-ZANO
More than a month into the 2020-21 season, no player in the nation has been better on the attack than senior midfielder Liz Lozano. Statistically the top striker in the NAIA, Lozano currently leads the nation in goals per game (4.5), game-winning goals per game (1.0), points per game (10.5) and shots on-goal per game (6.5). Lozano also ranks fourth in shots per game (8.5), total goals (9), game-winning goals (2) and assists per game (1.5).

STATISTICAL LEADERS