ADA – The East Central University soccer team will open the 2017 season with two matches over the weekend. The opening match of the year will be at Oklahoma Christian, Thursday, Aug. 31 at 6 p.m., with the first home match of the year set for Saturday, Sept. 2 at 2 p.m. against Rogers State.
ECU finished 3-12-2 overall and 3-8-1 in the Great American Conference in 2016, but will return 17 players this season and have added eight to the 2017 roster. The returners include a goalie that was injured at the start of last season, in
Chloe Hull. In the first six matches of the season Hull recorded 32 saves and 1.86 goals against average.
The Tigers will also get a boost in the return of players that scored all but three goals in 2016, including senior
Deanna Rudasill. Rudasill tallied 10 of ECU's 20 goals and added three assists. The Tigers also return junior
Summer Whalen, who garnered four goals.
Oklahoma Christian returns 18 players from the 2016 team that finished 4-12-2 overall and 2-10-2 in the Heartland Conference. Of the returners, the Lady Eagles return three of their top five scorers.
Those returners include Kylee Ingalls (three goals), Dakota Milner (two goals) and Michell Fuentes (two goals). Of OCU's two goalkeepers, only Addison Milner returns after seeing action in just 78 minutes, allowing five goals and recorded four saves.
Thursday's match marks the second-straight season that the Tigers and the Lady Eagles will both open the season against each other. Last season, ECU fell to OCU, 1-0 at Tiger Field. That moved the all-time series total to 4-1-1 in favor of the Tigers, with a 2-0-1 mark when playing on the road.
Rogers State will face Northwestern Oklahoma State (Aug. 31) before coming to Ada. In 2016, the Hillcats finished 6-9-3 overall and 2-9-3 in the Heartland Conference. RSU returns just eight players and lost 12 from a year ago, but they return their lone goalkeeper and three of their top six scorers.
Alexis Pryor is the top returner for the Hillcats (four goals), while Marlaina Trahant and Suvannah Melton each garnered three goals. Tayler Stover played the entire 2016 season in net for RSU, allowing 29 goals and recording 123 saves and earning four shutouts.
For those who can't make the trip to Ada to see the match live, the ECU Athletics Department will now offer free video streaming for all home events this season. Links to view the stream will be available on the schedule pages for all sports and through
www.ecutigers.com/watch (weather permitting). Links for live stats are also available on each sport page for all home events.
The match with the Hillcats will be just the third in the series that dates back to 2015. The teams are even at 1-1, with each winning a match on their home field. The last match at Tiger Field was Sep. 13, 2015 when ECU earned a 3-2 double overtime victory.
