BOX SCORE || BETHANY, Okla. – Following 110 minutes of 1-1 action with fourth-seeded East Central, Southern Nazarene, the Great American Conference’s regular-season champion and top seed, advanced to its first GAC Soccer Championship final, 4-1 on penalty kicks, on Friday afternoon at Wes Harmon Field.
Grace Self deposited the clinching kick into the top of the net to send the Crimson Storm (10-8-1) to Sunday’s final. Prior to Self, Mallary Pineda, Breana Harris and Bekah Stewart all successfully converted their tries. Conversely, only East Central’s Brooke Hazard made her penalty kick. Two attempts missed the target.
The lone regulation goals came in the first half. Southern Nazarene took the lead in the 37th minute when Sheridan Williams scored her fifth goal of the season off an assist by Brianna Evans. East Central (7-8-3) leveled the match when First-Team All-GAC midfielder Katie Glutz scored in the 43rd minute.
The Crimson Storm outshot the Tigers, 24-10; however, the Tigers put more shots on goal, 8-7. The Crimson Storm’s Hannah Robinson, the GAC’s Freshman of the Year took a game-high seven shots. SNU’s Natasha Fuentes made seven saves while her counterpart, Taylor Lowe, stopped six.
The Crimson Storm will take on Ouachita Baptist at 1 p.m. on Sunday for the GAC Soccer Championship title. SNU split its season series with OBU. Each school won on its home field. Ouachita Baptist has played in two of the previous three GAC Soccer title games. The Tigers fell to East Central on penalty kicks in 2011 and lost late to nationally-ranked Southwestern Oklahoma State in 2012, both times at the opponent’s home venue. The GAC Sports Network will stream the broadcast with Michael Westbrook and Joey McWilliams calling the action, available at
GACSportsNetwork.com.