McPHERSON, Kan. – Coming off its first Sooner Athletic Conference loss of the season and its bye week, the MACU Women's Soccer team brought a renewed focus in its road match at Central Christian on Saturday as the Evangels blitzed the Tigers for a pair of goals in each half to secure the 4-0 victory.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 4, Central Christian 0
  • Mid-America Christian (8-3-2, 3-1-2 SAC)
  • Central Christian (3-10-2, 1-5 SAC)

SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 14:27 – Goal: Gladis Avalos (6), Assist: Caitlin Hirst – MACU 1, CCCK 0
• 1^st Half – MACU – 15:18 – Goal: Caitlin Hirst (2), Assist: Liv Houlston – MACU 2, CCCK 0
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 55:48 – Goal: Maria Scopino (5), Assist: Liv Houlston – MACU 3, CCCK 0
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 60:34 – Goal: Brae Baker (8) – MACU 4, CCCK 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian controlled the early pace, putting a pair of shots on-goal from Gladis Avalos and Jasie Eischen in the third and seventh minutes that were saved before Rosina Mastro narrowly missed the go-ahead on an open attempt from the left side that just barely deflected off the left post to CCCK goalkeeper Macy Clements.
  • The Evangels finally found the back of the net twice in less than a minute. The first came in the 15^th minute when Caitlin Hirst dropped a dime to Gladis Avalos at the top of the 18-yard box as her right-side strike found the top left corner to make it a 1-0 MACU lead.
  • MACU added a second just 51 seconds later when Liv Houlston's left side corner found Hirst on the right side of the box as she punched it inside the right post to set the score to 2-0.
  • After MACU attempted 10 shots in the first 20 minutes, both teams struggled to find chances over the next 25 minutes as the only attempts were a blocked shot by CCCK's Avery Lemons at the 31-minute mark before Brae Baker narrowly missed a right side to left post chance in the 36^th minute.
  • The last chance for MACU came with two-and-a-half minutes left when Brae Baker got an open long-distance look from the right side, but her one-timer sailed just barely over the crossbar, sending the Evangels into the break with the 2-nil advantage.
• Second Half
  • Baker got a strong long-distance chance for MACU in the 54^th minute that just barely sailed over the crossbar before MACU before Houlston and Avalos got a pair of great on-goal looks that were strongly saved by Clements, the last setting up a MACU corner kick.
  • Even though the Tigers forced a save, Houlston's left side corner set up the Evangels well as Maria Scopino headed it into the right side of the net to set the score to 3-0 in the 56^th minute.
  • Just five minutes later, MACU stretched its lead to four when Hirst poked it away from her defender before crossing it to Baker in the right side of the box. Baker muscled her way through two defenders by the right post and dribbled around the keeper to slot a shot inside the left post, setting the score to 4-0 at 61-minute mark.
  • The Evangels got the opportunity to play a large portion of its bench over the final 20 minutes as goalkeeper-turned-forward Alba Vigo got some strong offensive chances with three on-target shots in the last 10 minutes, but the Tigers keeper made three solid saves to eventually wrap-up the 4-0 result.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian dominated the possession, outshooting Central Christian by a 23-2 margin with a dominating 13-0 edge in shots on-goal.
• Caitlin Hirst turned in three-point game for the Evangels by notching her second goal of the season to go with an assist on Gladis Avalos' game-winner. For Avalos, it was her sixth goal of the year and her fourth winning goal.
• With Maria Scopino's second half score, she became the second Evangel to reach five-plus goals on the season while Brae Baker continued extending her goal lead with her eighth of the year.
• Freshman midfielder Liv Houlston recorded her first career multi-assist match of the season with a pair of dimes off of corner kicks, boosting her team-leading total to five on the year and drawing even with Avalos for second in the point total with 13.
• Baker led MACU's shooting output with seven total shots while Baker matched Avalos and Alba Vigo for attempts on-goal with three apiece.
• Ariana Solorio did not need to face a shot in-goal for the Evangels behind a stellar defensive line that kept the Tigers from putting any shots on-frame to garner her second shutout of the season.
• The result allowed MACU to go deep to its bench as the Evangels had 24 players compete with 19 players competing for at least 20 minutes.
• By getting the win, the Evangels have extended their win streak to 10 games over the Tigers and now own a 12-4 lead in the all-time series.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will have a short turnaround as it now prepares to host Oklahoma Panhandle State for a 5 p.m. kickoff at the Dill Soccer Field.