OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian women's soccer team kicked off the 2021 season with a dominant defensive performance as the Evangels defeated MidAmerica Nazarene 1-0 at Evangel Field on Saturday afternoon.

In his inaugural season with the Evangels, it was head coach Anthony Yousey's first victory while it was a special day for senior goalkeeper Jennifer Starwalt as well, as she became the first keeper in program history to finish with 25 career shutouts.

 
SCORING SUMMARY

• Second Half
  • MACU – 62:12 – Goal: Mia Willyerd (1) – MACU 1, MNU 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian went on the attack early and often in the match. Just over two minutes into the half, junior forward Kadin Stinson picked off a pass in the 18-yard box and after having her shot stuffed at point-blank range by Pioneers goalkeeper Maria Gutierrez, Kelsey Henry's rebounded shot was headed away by a MNU defender to keep MACU off the board.
  • The Evangels only other great chance at the go-ahead goal in the half came in the 39^th minute. On the play, Jasmine Morales tapped a pass to Henry in the middle of the box, but she was unable to put all of her strength behind the shot as Gutierrez dove on low line-drive shot, sending the two teams tied at nil heading into the break.
• Second Half
  • MidAmerica Nazarene, who had struggled mightily against the Evangels pressing defense the entire match was finally able to muster its first shot on-goal in the 59^th minute. Renee Berak launched a 30-yard shot from the middle to the right post, but Jennifer Starwalt made a good read on it and was able to make the easy save to snap the Pioneers scoring chance.
  • In the 62^nd minute, Mid-America Christian netted its first goal of the season when senior midfielder Dixie Anderson launched a deep pass from midfield toward the middle of the box for the run of Mia Willyerd breaking toward the left post. Gutierrez came out to snag the pass, but the ball popped out of her hands toward Willyerd, who fired in the game-winning goal into the open net to make it a 1-0 MACU lead.
  • MACU was able to place three more shots on-goal in the half off the feet of Jasmine Morales, Abigail McCain and Daniela Paez, but were not able to get the insurance goal across.
  • MNU's only shot at an equalizer came in the 68^th minute. After a foul was called on MACU just outside the 18-yard box, the Pioneers Elvia Villagomez had a chance at an equalizer on a free kick, but airmailed her attempt over the crossbar to keep the Evangels in-front.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian controlled the pace from beginning to end as the Evangels outshot the Pioneers by a 14-5 margin, placing eight shots on-target while limiting MNU to just one on-goal shot.
• Mia Willyerd, a true freshman forward who played her high school soccer at Mustang High School was MACU's lone goal scorer, netting not just her first collegiate career goal, but also her first game-winner as well.
• Offensively, Daniela Paez led the way with four shots while Kelsey Henry finished with a team-high two shots on-goal.
• Needing to make just one save in the contest, Jennifer Starwalt moved alone into first place in MACU's record book for career shutouts with her 25^th, moving out of a tie with two-time NCCAA All-American Melissa Dobie.
• Anthony Yousey, who took over for longtime MACU head coach Evan Dresel over the summer was able to pick up his first career win. Implementing a pressing style to the team, the Evangels thrived in the season-opening win by not allowing the Pioneers any serious scoring threats in the entire 90-minute match.
• The Evangels have won four of their last five season-openers and their second in a row after picking up a 12-0 victory over Bacone in last season's opener on Sept. 5, 2020.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will return home on Tuesday night as the Evangels will host another non-conference matchup against Friends (Kan.) for a 5 p.m. kickoff at Evangel Field.