Box Score WAXAHACHIE, Texas – The Mid-America Christian women's soccer team will head into the spring with a 6-1 record after the Evangels scored three first half goals to secure a defensively dominant 3-0 victory at Southwestern Assemblies of God on Friday afternoon.

 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half
  • MACU – 33:20 – Goal: Kyleigh Gibson (7) – MACU 1, SAGU 0
  • MACU – 33:55 – Goal: Kelsey Henry (5) – MACU 2, SAGU 0
  • MACU – 35:30 – Goal: Sylvie Willie (1) – MACU 3, SAGU 0

 

MATCH SUMMARY

• After both teams played stifling defense through the first 33 minutes, the Evangels were finally able to break through in the 34^th minute. Redshirt sophomore forward Kyleigh Gibson recovered a ball deflected off a SAGU defender from Johanna Behrens corner kick, firing a shot into the top left corner of the goal from eight yards out on the left side of the box to make it a 1-nil game.
• The Evangels added to it just 30 seconds later when Joanne Nakirya was tripped up inside the 18-yard box on an attack, setting up Kelsey Henry for a penalty kick. Henry slipped her fifth goal of the season just inside the lower left post to bring it to a 2-0 MACU advantage.
• In the 38^th minute, Sylvie Willie put across her first goal of the season when Nakirya's point-blank shot off a strong Brooklyn Fink throw-in bounced off the diving keeper to Willie, sitting back for an open four-yard putback to cap off the Evangels scoring.
• Southwestern Assemblies of God (3-1) was able to muster a stronger attack against the Evangels in the second half, but MACU goalkeeper Jennifer Starwalt made four crucial second half saves, including a diving stop off a free kick barely outside the 18-yard box with just under five minutes remaining to secure the shutout.

 

MATCH NOTABLES

• Jennifer Starwalt surpassed former NCCAA All-American Kaitlyn Whitten on MACU's all-time list for most games started at goalkeeper, making her 60^th career start. Starwalt finished with a season-high five saves to notch her fourth shutout of the season. Starwalt recorded 33^rd win to move just one back of Melissa Dobie on the Evangels all-time career list.
• As a team, Mid-America Christian outshot SAGU by a 20-9 margin with a 7-5 edge in shots on-goal.
• Joanne Nakirya led the MACU attack with six shots, placing two on-goal while Kelsey Henry finished with five shots with two landing on-target.
• The Evangels picked up their fourth straight win against Southwestern Assemblies of God as well as their first win in Waxahachie since Nov. 20, 2015 when MACU came away with a 2-1 win.

 

NEXT UP

• Mid-America Christian will return to action in the spring as the Evangels will open the second half of their campaign on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021. MACU will host Houston-Victoria for a 5 p.m. kickoff at Evangel Field in the program's first home night game in program history.