League-leading Ouachita Baptist shuts out ECU
Oct. 17—ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — The East Central University soccer team traveled to Arkadelphia, Arkansas to face the leading team of the Great American Conference, Ouachita Baptist University, ultimately falling 2-0 in the match on Saturday.
East Central dropped to 1-8-3 overall and 1-2-3 in GAC play, while the host Tigers improved to 7-1-5 and 4-1-2.
The first half was a defensive battle with Abbie Morris recording the first shot of the match in the seventh minute. Olivia Witte attempted three shots over the course of 11 minutes to try and get the orange Tigers on the board first, but ECU struggled to register any shots on goal.
Although ECU limited Ouachita to just three shots, nevertheless, the purple Tigers managed to break through with a header by Fernanda Valencia in the 38th minute to take the 1-0 lead going into halftime.
ECU continued to battle in the second half with ECU goalie McKenna Leveling making a crucial save within the first minute after the break to prevent Ouachita from adding to their score.
Paige Jones and Olivia Witte took their chances to level the game, but it was Ouachita who eventually found the back of the net once more in the closing minutes of the match via a goal from Hattie Gardner securing the 2-0 victory on their home turf.
In terms of statistics, the game was closely contested, with both teams taking a total of nine shots. Ouachita held a slight advantage with four shots on goal compared to ECU's two.
The ECU soccer team will return to action at 6 p.m. on Wednesday to take on host Oklahoma Baptist in Shawnee.
