SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist will face off against Minnesota State-Mankato on Friday morning in the NCAA Tournament. The first-round match will take place at Central Missouri's South Recreation Complex in Warrensburg at 10 a.m.
OBU (13-5-1) has won nine of its last 10 matches including a 1-0 win over Southwestern Oklahoma State in the GAC Tournament Final on Nov. 13. This is the green and gold's second NCAA appearance. In 2018, the Bison lost to Central Oklahoma in the opening round.
The Bison are led by a host of players. All-GAC Tournament MVP and first-team selection
Tori Kitchel is tied for fourth in the country with seven game-winners.
Aiding the OBU attack are Annie Louthan, Hannah White and
Kaylee Swaner. Those three have tallied at least 17 points and six goals. As a unit, coach
Mike White's squad is tied for 21
st in the country in scoring offense (2.63).
In the last 14 matches, that unit has allowed eight goals, a 0.61 goals against average. Plus, opponents have found few opportunities to score as OBU has allowed just 3.57 shots on goal per game in that stretch. In net in freshman
Ireland Jeffrey whose 0.75 GAA is a top-50 mark in D2.
On the other sideline is No. 25 MSUM, a program that defeated No. 6 Bemidji State in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament Championship. The 4-2 decision clinched the program's tenth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and 15th overall.
The Mavericks (17-2-2) are led by Jenny Vetter. Her 17 goals are tied for seventh in the country. After her, Maille Mathis and Nadia Lowery have tallied six each. For Mathis, she scored twice in the NSIC Tournament final. Collectively, the Mavericks are ranked 27th in scoring offense (2.43).
On the defensive end, MSU-Mankato has been outstanding. It has notched 14 shutouts in 21 matches with a shutout percentage of .667. That mark is tied for seventh in the country. Defending the goal is Mackenzie Rath. She boasts the sixth best GAA in the country (0.39) and the third best save percentage (91.3).
