2011 GAC WOMEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP HOME PAGE
ADA, Okla. – The East Central University Lady Tigers and the Ouachita Baptist University Lady Tigers were both victorious on Friday in the semi-finals of the inaugural Great American Conference Women’s Soccer Championship Tournament, setting up a battle of the Tigers for the championship on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Ouachita Baptist (8-9), the No. 3 seed in the tournament, pulled off an upset of No. 2 Southwestern Oklahoma State in the first game of the tournament, using Miranda Lytle’s score on a cross from the right side with less than five minutes remaining in the second half to seal the victory by a final score of 1-0. Jessica Allen was credited with the assist on Lytle’s goal.
OBU’s Whitley Hoppe recorded her league-best seventh shutout in the victory, keeping the Bulldogs (6-11-2) scoreless on five shots. Hoppe registered three saves in the win.
An hour later, host team East Central took an early lead on a successful penalty kick from Laura McNab just 3:31 into the contest. The Lady Tigers (11-6-1) continued to dominate on their home field, scoring five more goals throughout regulation on a total of 17 shots to defeat the Lady Bisons (4-13-1) and move on to Sunday’s championship game.
ECU’s Katie Glutz recorded three assists in the victory, highlighted by a stretch of three consecutive scores. Glutz set up Whitney Watts for a goal at the 13:30 mark for the final score of the first half.
ECU scored four goals in the second half, starting with a header by Sarah Duvall off a high cross from the right side less than two minutes into the second half. Glutz was credited with the assist on that goal, as well as the next ECU goal, a header by Laura McNab off a corner kick at the 71:37 mark. It was McNab’s second goal of the game and fourth overall this season.
The Lady Tigers added their final scores within one minute of each other, a score by Andi Reagan from Susana Galvez at the 75:39 mark and an unassisted goal by Ashley Bradford at the 76:06 mark.
ECU’s Adrianna Phininzy tallied her fifth shutout of the season and registered four saves in the process. The ECU defense limited Harding to a total of eight shots.
Ouachita Baptist was the only team to defeat East Central in GAC games during the regular season. OBU registered a 2-0 win over ECU in Arkadelphia, Ark. on October 2. Later in the season, ECU collected a 1-0 win over OBU in Ada.
Sunday’s championship game will be featured as a part of the 2011-12 GAC Sports Network Webcast Schedule. The webcast will feature views from multiple camera angles, play-by-play analysis and interviews from league administrators. The webcast, which is available free of charge to those with a high-speed internet connection, is available at greatamericanconference.com. To access the webcast, visit the tournament home page and click on the “GAC Sports Network Webcast” link.