OKLAHOMA CITY – With the program's fourth NCCAA Central Region Championship and a Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament win in 2019, the Mid-America Christian women's soccer team has high expectations for the 2020-21 campaign as the Evangels were selected to finish fourth in the SAC Preseason Poll released on Wednesday.

MACU received 58 votes in the poll, including a first place vote to finish nine votes ahead of Oklahoma City in fifth and only five votes back of Texas Wesleyan for third.

The 2019 SAC Champions Science & Arts were picked to repeat as conference champs, receiving 79 votes, including seven first place votes while John Brown was tabbed second with 71 votes to go with a pair of first place votes.

The bottom half of the poll included Wayland Baptist (44) in sixth, followed by Southwestern Christian (32), Central Christian (22), Southwestern Assemblies of God (18) with Oklahoma Panhandle State (10) rounding out the list.

Last season, Mid-America Christian pieced together one of its best seasons in team history, finishing the campaign with a 14-6-1 record, which included an appearance at the NCCAA National Championships after winning the program's fourth Central Region Championship with a 4-0 victory over Southwestern Christian in the title tilt on Nov. 22.

The Evangels won their first game at nationals since their 2015 NCCAA National Semifinal run after topping Erskine (S.C.) 4-0 in the first match of pool play before dropping a hard-fought 2-0 match to NCCAA National Finalist Ottawa (Ariz.)

MACU had its best run in Sooner Athletic Conference play since the 2010 campaign as the Evangels went 6-2-1, finishing just a half-game back of Texas Wesleyan for third in the league.

Mid-America Christian locked up its first SAC Tournament home match in dramatic fashion on Nov. 2 when Paola Camacho headed in the golden goal in the 104^th minute of overtime to top the Lady Rams 1-0 during Senior Day at Evangel Field.

A week later in the SAC Quarterfinals, the Evangels picked up their first conference tournament win since defeating Oklahoma Baptist in 2010 after MACU defeated Oklahoma City 1-0 on Nov. 9 thanks to Ariadna Ramirez's game-winner in the 28^th minute.

MACU is coming off one of its most prolific offensive seasons, which saw the team score an NAIA era (2007-present) record 75 goals and with 42 assists, the program also notched the points record with 192. Defensively, the team posted the second-most shutout victories in the history of the program with 10, finishing only behind the 13 set by the 2010 squad.

The Evangels return a stacked lineup from last year's team, which includes sophomore All-SAC First Team defender and Co-Defensive Player of the Year Brooklyn Fink as well senior All-SAC First Team goalkeeper Jennifer Starwalt heading up the backline.

In the attack, MACU returns its top three goal scorers from a year ago, including All-SAC Second Team midfielder Liz Lozano and All-SAC Second Team forward Kyleigh Gibson. Lozano led the team with 14 goals and six assists while Gibson also closed out the year with 14 scores and five dimes.

The Evangels will also look to get some veteran leadership from senior All-SAC Second Team defender Marga Franco, as well as senior forward Sylvie Willie who scored nine goals a year ago, senior forward Paola Camacho, who tallied six goals and four assists and senior forward Kelsey Henry who finished second on the team with five assists to go with four goals.

While the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season and conference tournament have been pushed back to the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Evangels are scheduled to play an exhibition and seven non-conference matches in the fall, including four against SAC rivals.

Mid-America Christian will open the season this Saturday, Sept. 5 as the Evangels will head to Muskogee, Oklahoma to take on Bacone College for a 3 p.m. match.

2020-21 Sooner Athletic Conference Preseason Women's Soccer Poll