SHAWNEE – Southwestern Oklahoma State's all-time leading goal scorer Alimata Robo scored twice in the first half before the Bulldogs held off a strong second stanza from Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday night in a 2-0 win.
SWOSU will go on to host next Thursday's Great American Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed while the Bison, seeded third, will face off with No. 2-seed Ouachita. Game times will be announced later.
The Bison's
Anna Fulton, one of three seniors honored on Saturday, got into the mix just 54 seconds in after intercepting a ball near the 18. Her shot, though, was blocked by a Bulldogs defender.
Southwestern followed with the next three attempts but
Mia Pendleton denied all those, including a leaping stop on a shot from Ruth Vasquez at 3:15.
Then, in the 22nd minute, Robo broke the scoreless tie. Surrounded by three OBU defenders along the left side, she was able to get an attempt off and found the lower-right corner of the net. It was the first goal Pendleton had allowed in over 425 minutes of action.
Nine minutes later, SWOSU doubled its lead. With Micaela Swain along the right side, she sent a pass to Robo who then headed it home. That was her GAC-leading 13th goal of the year.
Down 2-0, the Bison had several solid chances in the second half.
Katie Fowler, another senior honoree, had an up-top shot just a couple minutes into the second deflected away by Bulldogs keeper Ashley Hughes. That was one of six saves on the night for the GAC's leading goalie.
Then in the 69th minute, a breakaway from sophomore
Jadynn Daggs along the right brough a shot, but it hit the top crossbar and bounced away.
Once more Fowler got another quality look with about 10 minutes left. This time, she fired from the left and watched as the ball nearly squirted under the legs of Hughes. That would be the last of OBU's attempts on the night.
By game's end, SWOSU held a 22-15 shots advantage while OBU led in corners, 6-5. In addition to Fowler and Fulton,
Maddison Williams was also honored on Senior Night for the green and gold.
