Lady Bison Set for Tournament Tilt

No. 4 EAST CENTRAL (6-7-4, 3-4-4 GAC) AT No. 1 OKLAHOMA BAPTIST (14-1-3, 9-0-3 GAC)

GAC Championship Semifinal | Thursday, Nov. 2 | 6 p.m.

OBU Soccer Complex | Shawnee, Okla.

Live Stats

SHAWNEE – Entering the Great American Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed, Oklahoma Baptist is set to face No. 4-seeded East Central on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. at the OBU Soccer Complex. The Lady Bison earned the right to host the tournament after claiming the GAC regular season title with a 9-0-3 record, becoming just the second team in conference history to go unbeaten in league play.
 
Oklahoma Baptist and East Central have met twice on the pitch already in 2017, with OBU owning a 1-0-1 advantage in those meetings. Hannah White scored the winner against the Tigers in a 1-0 affair in Shawnee, before the Lady Bison and ECU battled to a 0-0 tie through 110 minutes of action in Ada.
 
Ruth King leads OBU's offense with 12 goals this year, good for third in the GAC. Hannah White and Abigail Parker have combined for an additional 11 goals, and as a team OBU has bagged 39 goals this year. The squad's ball movement has been exceptional as well, with four Lady Bison ranking in the top six in the league for assists, paced by King with seven assists to her credit.
 
The Lady Bison will go up against a defense that's proven hard to break down. East Central has posted seven shutouts this year while holding a .95 goals-against average, second in both categories only to OBU. Chloe Hull paces all goalkeepers in the league with a .867 save percentage coupled with a 1.01 GAA.
 
Defensively for OBU, the staunch backline of Jennifer Goethe, Lara Haring-Lovett, Kelsey Bumgarner and Rachel Beiermann has limited opponents to just 8.7 shots per match. Emily Griffith continues to build on her program record between the sticks with eight clean sheets this year.
 
The Tigers rank third in goals scored with an average of 1.65 per match, though if you take out a 13-goal outpouring against Randall ECU only averages .94 goals per match. No Tigers rank in the top 10 in the league in goals scored, with five players sharing the team lead on three goals for the year.
 
With a win on Thursday evening, OBU will progress to their first-ever GAC Championship Final on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. against the winner of Thursday's first semifinal match between No. 2 Southwestern Oklahoma State and No. 3 Harding.