ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Oklahoma Baptist was in control for most of the match as it defeated Ouachita Baptist 2-0 on Saturday morning at Kluck Field.
It was the Bison's sixth win in a row, improved the team's overall record to 9-4-1 and kept the team in first place of the Great American Conference with an 8-1 mark.
Three weeks ago, the Tigers escaped the OBU Soccer Complex on a 1-0 decision. This time around, the Bison got in front early and never looked back.
A little over five minutes in, a long pass from
Asley Baker made its way near the top of the 18.
Kaylee Swaner got the ball down, tapped it to her right and watched as first-year standout
Annie Louthan fired a pinpoint shot that deflected near the top crossbar off Tigers' goalie Michele Snow.
That 1-0 lead remained until the 87th minute and in the time between OBU's first and second goal, the Bison defense continued their strong play. By the end of the first stanza, the Bison back line had allowed just one shot on goal.
In the second half, there were two sticky situations for OBU's defense. The first, at 58:07, saw Gracen Turner meet freshman keeper
Ireland Jeffrey near the left post on a shot. And the other, from Alexis Perry at 73:05, was similar on the right side but Jeffrey dove to corral the ball.
By game's end, Jeffrey notched three saves and notched her sixth shutout of the year.
Final scoring for Oklahoma Baptist came courtesy of
Keely Hampton and
Hannah Evans. With 3:14 left on the clock, Hampton got around the defense, passed from the right post and Evans tapped home an easy shot. That was the team's 30th shot of the day, a season-high.
On the other end, the Tigers managed just eight shots.
Next on the schedule for OBU is another road game, this time against Southern Nazarene on Oct. 28 at 5 p.m.
