OKLAHOMA CITY – Junior forward Brae Baker scored a hat trick in her second consecutive match to advance the Evangels into the Sooner Athletic Conference semifinals by defeating Southwestern Christian 4-2 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night at the Dill Soccer Field.

SCORE

• (RV) Mid-America Christian 4, Southwestern Christian 2
  • Mid-America Christian (11-3-3)
  • Southwestern Christian (12-5-1)

SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 41:49 – Goal: Brae Baker (13)– MACU 1, SCU 0
• 1^st Half – MACU – 42:07 – Goal: Brae Baker (14) – MACU 2, SCU 0   
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 55:23 – Goal: Gladis Avalos (7) – Assist: Caitlin Hirst, Deborah Silveira - MACU 3, SCU 0
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 61:44 – Goal: Brae Baker (15) – Assist: Jasie Eischen – MACU 4, SCU 0
• 2^nd Half – SCU – 79:09 – Goal: Abbigail Johnson (9) – MACU 4, SCU 1
• 2^nd Half – SCU - 84:03 – Goal: Rachel Foster (3) – MACU 4, SCU 2

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • The Evangels started on the front foot with consecutive corner kicks within the opening two minutes and fired three shots on goal in the opening seven minutes, to force the save out of Eagles' goalkeeper, Lorelai Puglisi. Deborah Silveira found space inside the box just eight minutes later and got her shot off, which was once again equaled to by Puglisi.
  • SCU grew into the match after the early jump from the Evangels. Camryn Miller fired the first shot on goal for the Eagles as Ariana Solorio made her first save of the night in the 22^nd minute.
  • MACU found its breakthrough in the 42^nd minute as Brae Baker got to the loose ball before the goalkeeper and blasted it into the open net. Just 18 seconds later, Baker doubled the lead by once again getting on the end of a ball over top of the Eagles' defense and around the goalkeeper to fire it into the empty net.
• Second Half
  • MACU punched first in the second half through Gladis Avalos scoring her seventh goal of the season 11 minutes into the half. A brilliant run down the right flank from Caitlin Hirst, who squared a ball across the six-yard box where Avalos waited to poke it into the near post.
  • Six minutes later, the Evangels added the fourth from none other than Baker for her third goal of the match, and 15^th of the season. MACU executed a perfect indirect free kick from inside the penalty area, where Jasie Eischen teed up a rifle shot from Baker who found the bottom left corner.
  • The Eagles continued to fight with their season on the line and found a goal back with 11 minutes to play as the Eagles leading goal scorer, Abbigail Johnson, made no mistake from the penalty spot for her 12^th goal of the season.
  • SCU applied more pressure as just six minutes later, the Eagles found the back of the net for their second as Rachel Foster ripped a shot from 25 yards out into the back of the net, to force a nervy final six minutes.
  • MACU saw out the game as Solorio came up big with a massive point-blank reflex save with three minutes remaining to deny SCU a third goal.

MATCH NOTES

• MACU held a dominant shots advantage at 20-8, but a closer shots on goal margin at 11-7.  
• Ariana Solorio finished with five saves, as SCU goalkeeper Loralai Puglisi ended with seven.
• Brae Baker scored consecutive hat tricks for the first time since Liz Lozano did to open the 2020 season in a 12-0 win over Bacone on Sep. 5, 2020, and a 10-1 win over Texas A&M - Texarkana on Sep. 26. Baker has scored eight goals in five games, while leading the SAC with 15 on the season.
• Mid-America Christian advances to the Sooner Athletic Conference semifinals for the third consecutive time and fulfilled revenge against SCU, who gave MACU its lone loss during conference regular season, and first loss to the Eagles in program history.
• MACU improves to 16-1-1 all time against SCU, to restore the winning streak against the Eagles.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will hit the road for its SAC Semifinal match and face the top seeded and No. 11 ranked John Brown in Siloam Springs, Ark. on Saturday evening for a 6 p.m. kickoff.