SHAWNEE – A second-half rally fell short as No. 1 Oklahoma Baptist fell, 3-2, to No. 2 Southwestern Oklahoma State in the Great American Conference Championship Final on Saturday afternoon in Shawnee. It was OBU's first trip to the GAC Final in program history.
The Lady Bison fell behind early in the first half following a SWOSU corner, and found themselves staring up at a 2-0 hole after they gave up a second goal in the 62nd minute.
Abigail Hicks finally broke through for OBU, on the Lady Bison's 17th shot of the match, in the 73rd minute. After both Hannah White and Kelsey Bumgarner saw their efforts blocked by a scrambling Bulldog defense, Hicks took her shot. Though it initially appeared to be blocked by a SWOSU defender on the goal line, the referee judged the ball to have crossed the line to make it 2-1.
Unfortunately for Oklahoma Baptist, the two-goal advantage was restored for SWOSU a minute later. Undeterred, the Lady Bison continue to press, and Kerregan Edwards put her stamp on the match with a long-range free kick from the right wing after Emmily Infante was fouled in transition to make it 3-2 in the 87th minute. Neither team mustered a shot in the final three minutes of the championship bout.
The Lady Bison outshot SWOSU 23-13, and forced 11 saves in the contest. Emily Griffith picked up four saves in just her second loss of the year.
Edwards, Infante and Jennifer Goethe were all honored as part of the All-Tournament team following the conclusion of the match.
Oklahoma Baptist ends the season with a 15-2-3 overall record. The 15 wins tie the program's best mark for wins in a season, while the squad's winning percentage of .825 saves as a new program high-water mark. Every starter from 2017 is slated to return for next year's campaign.
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