OBU Records Sixth Straight Clean Sheet

SHAWNEE – The Lady Bison soccer team remained perfect in Great American Conference action, picking up a 4-0 decision against East Central Saturday night at the OBU Soccer Complex. The match was Oklahoma Baptist's sixth consecutive clean sheet.
 
It didn't take long for OBU to find the back of the net as Tori Kitchel had the Lady Bison up inside the first quarter-hour with a 14th-minute strike. The freshman picked up the ball on the left wing and carried it down the sideline before firing a shot from distance. A deflection of a defender's leg helped stall the ECU goalkeeper, and the ball found its way into the side-netting on the back post.
 
The Lady Bison doubled their advantage ten minutes later off a goal by Kerregan Edwards. After receiving a square pass from Reagan Mann in the middle of the park, Edwards picked up her head and saw plenty of space. The defensive midfielder placed her shot just inside the right post and over the outstretched fingertips of ECU's keeper from 30 yards out in the 24th minute.
 
Following the intermission, the Lady Bison continued their attacking forays and tallied their third of the evening. Kitchel again carried the ball down the left wing, but instead of taking the shot herself, sent a low cross from the end line that found Ruth King in the middle of the six-yard box. An easy tap-in for OBU's leading scorer made scoreline 3-0 in the 62nd minute.
 
With the match in hand, OBU head coach Mike White put his reserves in to see out the match. That would not, however, deter OBU's offensive efforts as Kelsi Mensen got on the end of an Edwards' corner on the back post in the 85th minute to put the finishing touches on the proceedings.
 
The OBU backline of Kelsey Bumgarner, Hannah Evans, Jennifer Goethe and Lara Haring-Lovett limited the Tigers to just six shots for the match, with only three testing Emily Griffith. Griffith proved equal to the task each time, recording three saves in 82 minutes of action. Sam Engles played the final eight minutes between the sticks.
 
Oklahoma Baptist (12-4, 10-0 GAC) maintains its hold of first place in the GAC standings with two matches left. The Lady Bison return to action in a clash of the GAC's top two teams when they face Southwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday, Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. in Shawnee.