The Basics

Score: Evangel 0, #10 Oklahoma Wesleyan 8 | Box Score

Record: Evangel (2-3-1), OKWU (4-1-1)

Location: Bartlesville, Okla. (OKWU Field)

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Valor Women's Soccer concluded their road trip on Wednesday (Sept. 17) evening, taking on another top 10 team in the nation, the Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles, looking to attempt to pull off an upset. Knowing they were facing one of the top teams in the NAIA, the Valor would fight hard, but could not keep up with OKWU's potent offense, falling 8-0 on Wednesday.

Oklahoma Wesleyan opened Wednesday's game with quick offensive pace, putting a goal on the board early to take a 1-0 lead. Amaura Austell would register Evangel's only shot on goal at the 7:20 mark of the first half, but the Eagles goalie stifled the shot, keeping EU off the board. The Eagles would break through on the scoreboard seven additional times in the first half, taking an 8-0 lead into the halftime break.

Out of the halftime break, the Valor knew defense would be key to keeping the Eagles from continuing to extend their lead. Evangel was able to hold the 10th ranked Eagles to just five shots in the period and kept OKWU from scoring any additional goals, but ultimately could not record any scoring offense in the half, falling 8-0 in full time.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Amaura Austell recorded Evangel's lone shot on goal in the loss.

QUOTABLE

"At this moment, we aren't at the same level as top ten teams, and we've seen that over these past two Wednesdays. Honestly as challenging as these matches can be, if we learn and grow from them, they are beneficial. We didn't defend very well in the first half and we talked a great deal about organization and effort when defending. We then set our goal to work so well defensively in the second half not to concede another goal and we accomplished that," Women's Soccer Head Coach Bruce Deaton stated. "We will take away from this match how we need to work and defend as a group and that second half will propel us forward into results throughout the conference season. We learned what not to do....but even more importantly what to do to be better on the defending side of the ball during that second half. For that I am proud of their effort and continued work." 

UP NEXT

Valor Women's Soccer returns home on Saturday (Sept. 20) afternoon at noon to take on conference foe, McPherson, aiming to rebound with a win at Coryell Field.

For the latest information on Evangel Athletics, visit Facebook at Facebook.com/EvangelValor, Twitter (@EvangelValor), or EvangelAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on their favorite EU teams by downloading the Evangel Athletics Gameday App through the App Store or Google Play.