MCPHERSON, Kansas – Entering tonight's game the Tigers needed a win or a tie to move on to the SAC tournament against fellow SAC opponent Oklahoma City.
Tigers originally were slated to play this game last Thursday due to rainfall and had to reschedule. The team's chances of making the NAIA championship came down to the final game of the regular season.
MATCH SUMMARY
Maximo Paz wasted no time in the 1
st half, putting the Tigers up 1-0 off an assist from Hilario Delfin within the first 7' minutes of the game. Oklahoma City made a quick adjustment and was able to keep the Tigers on their heels the entire half. In the 19
th minute the Stars scored the equalizer, 1-1. OCU held the advantage in the 1
st half with 12 shots to Tigers 5, both teams however would remain scoreless the remainder of the half.
Oklahoma City continued to dominate the shots with 7 to 4, but both teams only put 1 ball on goal, with each goal keeper collecting the save opportunity to keep the game all squared up in regulation. Tigers and Stars headed to overtime in this decisive regular season game.
Despite the rain falling and fatigue starting to kick in, the Tigers pressured the Stars in both overtimes, with Tiger defense not allowing any shots to the Tigers 9. The 1
st OT the Tigers forced the OCU keeper to make 3 saves and then in the 2
nd OT the Tigers put 3 more shots on goal. With a 1:59 remaining in the game
Drew Schrader was feed an assist from
Maximo Paz and came away with the game winning goal to send the Tigers to SAC playoffs and knock the Stars out.
UP NEXT
Tigers earn the 8
th seed in the SAC tournament and will play #1 seed and #3 in the nation MACU in Oklahoma City, game time, Friday @ 7:00 p.m.
Tigers finish the regular season at 8-9-1 (.472) 3-5-1 SAC (.389)
CENTRAL CHRISTIAN QUOTES
Head Coach
Aaron Hoxie
"Tonight was about caring. It was about getting back to the grit and determination that makes us unique. It's about passion and emotion, representing ourselves at the highest level possible. Tonight was about guts, plain and simple. Our back line, and MF core was absolutely stellar. They built the wall and went to work. What a lovely performance from those guys."
"Hard to summarize the game. Perhaps it was a game of ebb and flow, but it was certainly wide open and very entertaining from a neutral perspective. I tried to keep things in shape, and we did for the most part, but as the game got going, so did our motors. At the point, the only course of action was to let the boys go. It worked out for us in the end and we've earned another trip to the show. Time to regroup, figure out who is broken, and see if we can put a solid game plan together."
PLAYER GOAL UPDATES
Maximo Paz scores his 3
rd goal of the season.
Drew Schrader scores his 14
th goal of the season.
SERIES HISTORY
This is the 5
th meeting between the two teams.
Stars hold the slight 3-2 advantage
Tigers are 2-1 (.667) at home against the Stars
