Photo by Kami Wood
McPherson, Kan. – The Central Christian College women's soccer team opened up Sooner Athletic Conference team on Tuesday, hosting the hottest team in the conference through the non-conference portion of the schedule, the Mid-America Christian University Evangels.
Evangels came into the match with a 7-1 record and they quickly showed off their speed and talent, finishing off the Tigers five nil.
The Tigers did well holding the Evangels at bay through the midway point of the first half. However, in the 24th minute, the dam broke, and the Evangels got on the board with their first goal. They added a second goal three minutes later, and then a third in the 39th minute.
After the intermission, the Evangels stayed on the attack. The vast majority of the final 45 minutes was played in the Tigers' defensive third. The Evangels scored a 4th goal, 11 minutes in to the half, and then got their 5th goal on an own goal by the Tigers' defense in the 74th minute. The Tiger offense was held scoreless coming up with just two shots on goal.
Katelyn Beckman (So. Colorado Springs, Colo.), despite giving up five goals to the Evangels, had an amazing night for the Tigers between the pipes. She finished with a program record 25 saves.
Coach Macharia gave his thoughts on the Tigers' performance saying, "It's been another tough outing for lady tigers! Today we played a tough opponent and even though I felt like the girls worked very hard we came short again. MACU had a great plan and even though we trained preparing on ways to stop their attacks we got tired and they completely took advantage of that. Katelyn Beckman played one of her best games in goal and made plenty of saves. We are grateful to have her on our team. We are still missing a few players in our back line through injuries but I am proud of the girls desire to keep fighting."
The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday, going on the road for a 1:00 pm start against the Wayland Baptist University Pioneers.
