KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The fifth-seeded Mid-America Christian women's soccer team saw its season come to an end at the NCCAA National Championships on Wednesday as the Evangels fell 5-1 to No. 2 seed Trinity Christian (Ill.) at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• TCC – 13:03 – Goal: Selah Hopkins (17) – TCC 1, MACU 0
• TCC – 28:10 – Goal: Brianna Uhl (30), Assist: Kara Amidon – TCC 2, MACU 0
• TCC – 47:29 – Goal: Selah Hopkins (18) – TCC 3, MACU 0
• TCC – 62:39 – Goal: Selah Hopkins (19), Assist: Brianna Uhl – TCC 4, MACU 0
• MACU – 64:10 – Goal: Kadin Stinson (2) – TCC 4, MACU 1
• TCC – 73:03 – Goal: Brianna Uhl (31) – TCC 5, MACU 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian was able to maintain some strong offensive control early in the first half, but Trinity Christian pushed across the first goal of the match in the 14^th minute when Selah Hopkins was able to run down a ball into the left side of the box and fire a shot just past the diving Jennifer Starwalt to make it an early 1-nil lead for the Trolls.
  • Trinity Christian controlled the offensive pace over the next 15 minutes, getting three more shots on-goal that Starwalt was able to stop.
  • However, TCC claimed a 2-0 advantage to go into the half on Brianna Uhl's 30^th goal of the season in the 29^th minute off the pass from Kara Amidon.
  • Alissa Taylor was the only MACU player over the final 15 minutes of the half to place a shot on-goal while Starwalt notched two more saves before the break.
• Second Half
  • Starwalt tallied another save near the start of the half, but Hopkins pushed across the Trolls' fourth goal a minute later at the 47:29 mark.
  • Hopkins recorded the hat trick with her third goal at the 62:39 mark to bring it to a 4-0 Trinity Christian advantage.
  • Junior forward Kadin Stinson put the Evangels on the board in the 65^th minute when she was able to track down a pass down the left side, dribble around a pair of defenders and rifle a shot from the top left of the goal box toward the top right corner to cut it to a 4-1 deficit.
  • Stinson narrowly missed scoring her second goal of the match in the 73^rd minute when she received a great touch pass on the right side of the box, but TCC goalkeeper Beka Roelofs made a tremendous leaping save toward the right post.
  • The Trolls were able to put together a quick counter following MACU's corner kick as Uhl rifled a tremendous 23-yard blast to inside the left post in the 74^th minute to wrap up the 5-1 decision.

MATCH NOTES

• Trinity Christian managed to outshoot the Evangels 23-11 with a 15-4 margin in shots on-goal.
• Kadin Stinson led the MACU offensive attack with the Evangels' lone goal on five shots with two being on-goal. The score was her second of the season after her first goal was notched against Oklahoma Panhandle State back on Oct. 26.
• Senior goalkeeper Jennifer Starwalt wrapped up her illustrious MACU career with a season-high 10 saves, becoming the ninth-time in 115 games played that the Moore, Okla. product came away with double-digit saves in a match. Starwalt is closing out a career as the program's record holder for saves (398), wins (53), shutouts (24), games played (115) and games started (110).
• It was the final collegiate match for many of the players on the Evangels team. Kyleigh Rushing ended her MACU career as the program's eighth-leading goal scorer (31), sixth in assists (14) and eighth in points (76). Despite missing the game due to injury, Kelsey Henry closed out her career as the ninth-best goal scorer (26), sixth in assists (14) and ninth in points (66). Marga Franco also closed out her MACU career with the fourth-most assists (17) while Johanna Behrens made an impressive mark with 14 assists to place sixth in the record book in just two seasons.
• Mid-America Christian wrapped up its ninth winning season in the last 12 years with an 11-9 overall record while Trinity Christian advanced to the NCCAA Semifinals with a record of 18-5-1.