ADA – For the first time since 2014, the East Central University soccer team has advanced to play in the Great American Conference Championship tournament, Nov. 2-4 in Shawnee, Okla. The Tigers claimed the final seed (No. 4) in the tournament last week with a 1-0 win over Ouachita Baptist.
ECU will first have to face the No. 1 seed and host, Oklahoma Baptist, Thursday, Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. at the OBU Soccer Complex.
GAC Soccer Championship Page
This is the fifth time in seven years that ECU has advanced to the GAC Championship and the seventh time in soccer history (since 1997) that a Tiger team advanced to a conference championship.
Since joining the GAC ECU has gone 1-2-2 in tournament appearances, with both ties going to penalty kicks. The first tie resulted in the Tigers earning the victory with over Ouachita Baptist in penalty kicks. The second was a loss to Southern Nazarene.
In 2017, ECU has a 6-7-4 overall record and finished the GAC with a 3-4-4 mark. For the team's efforts four players earned All-GAC honors for the season. Sophomore
Alyssa Butler earned All-GAC First Team honors, junior
Chloe Hull and sophomore
Alexis Castillo were named to the second team and sophomore
Lizette Carreon was an honorable mention pick.
Butler, a defender, played 1516 minutes for the Tigers this season, recording five shots on goal and helping ECU block 72 shots by its opponents this season, including three games with 10.
Hull played most of the time in net for the Tigers, earning a 5-4-4 record, five complete shutouts, a combined shutout, recording 104 saves and allowing just 16 goals. She earned a 1.01 goals against average and a .867 saves percentage. Here goals against average ranks second in the single season record books at ECU, while her five shutouts is also second in a single season.
Castillo finished the season with two goals, an assist and a team-best 18 shots on goal. She was one of seven players to record multiple goals on the year, as the ECU offensive was spread out this season.
Carreon also earned a spot as a defensive player, yet she was also one of seven players to earn multiple goals on the year with three. Two of her goals came on penalty kicks in back-to-back matches, including a match-tying-goal at Northwestern.
The Tigers also saw Hull and senior
Deanna Rudasill earn GAC Elite Scholar Student-Athlete honors. The honor is given to student-athletes participating in the tournament that have completed 70 hours of college coursework, and have the highest GPA in the field. Hull and Rudasill both garner a 4.0 GPA.
The Bison finished the regular season with a 14-1-3 overall record and a 9-0-3 record in conference play. OBU has averaged 2.17 goals per game and allowed just 0.89 by its opponents. Ruth King, an All-GAC First Team selection, led the team with 12 goals and seven assists, while recording 33 shots on goal.
Emily Griffith, the GAC Goalkeeper of the Year, played the entire time in net for the Bison, recording a 0.85 goals against average and a .771 saves percentage, while recording eight shutouts.
The first match of the tournament will see No. 2 Southwestern Oklahoma State face No. 3 Harding at 3 p.m., with the winners of each semifinal advancing to the championship game, Saturday, Nov. 4 at 1 p.m.
This will be the first meeting in the post season with Oklahoma Baptist. ECU is 0-1 against SWOSU and 1-0 against Harding in post-season play. The Tigers fell to the Bulldogs in the opening round in 2013 and defeated Harding in the first round in 2011.
