Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
The Oklahoma Christian University women’s soccer team went south for a tour of Texas throughout the week leading up to fall break.
To begin the road trip, the Lady Eagles took on a St. Edward’s University team that has had the upper hand on Oklahoma Christian since their entry into the Heartland conference.
The then 19th-ranked Hilltoppers handed Oklahoma Christian a 5-0 loss. Senior Chelsie Flagg found a silver lining in the shut-out.
“Despite what the score and stats say or look like, the St. Ed’s game is one we as a team are actually proud of,” Flagg said. “We walked away knowing we didn’t just roll over. They are a top D2 school and we fought. We still have so much to improve on, and games like St. Ed’s help show us what level we need to be at in order to really compete in the Heartland Conference.”
On Oct. 10 the Lady Eagles continued on to Abilene, Texas to take on the McMurry War Hawks. Junior Estefania Bermudez Delgado gave the Lady Eagles an early advantage, knocking in a goal in the 14th minute off an assist from senior Addie Ryan.
The War Hawks would capitalize on a penalty kick and knot the score at 1-1 in the 63rd minute.
For the remaining minutes of regulation and a pair of 10-minute overtime periods, neither team could find the back of the net; the Lady Eagles were forced into their second tie in three weeks, the first coming against St. Gregory’s on Sept. 23.
Taking a break from the conference schedule, the Lady Eagles traveled to Commerce, Texas on Oct. 12 for their final nonconference match of the season against the University of Texas A&M – Commerce.
The Lady Eagles fell behind early in the match, surrendering goals to the Lions in the sixth and 12th minutes, respectively. However, in a display of resilience, the Lady Eagles answered with Delgado’s fourth goal of the season coming in the 24th minute, and freshman Kelsey Taylor’s first career goal serving as the tying effort in the 34th minute.
However, as quickly as the Lady Eagles battled back to even, the Lions reclaimed the match and fired off four unanswered goals, grabbing the decisive victory 6-2.
To close the tour of Texas the Lady Eagles did battle with the Dallas Baptist University Patriots Monday night, a few hours south down I-35.
The Patriots netted two goals in 13 minutes. The Lady Eagles forced only one save out of the keeper, and the Patriots added another pair of goals against sophomore Anna Walker in her first full match to hand Oklahoma Christian their second conference loss.
Flagg indicated how this match differed from the St. Edward’s game, and what it revealed about the Lady Eagles as a team.
“DBU was the second best team we have played this year, behind St. Ed’s,” Flagg said. “We went in very scared and very timid against DBU. This was not the outcome we wanted from this game. It was very disappointing for us, but again proves that we need to really improve if we want to compete in NCAA Division II soccer.”
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