Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 24, 2015) – Oklahoma Christian has overcome a lot this men's soccer season, but the Eagles found it tough to get much going on Saturday against Rogers State after losing both its top scorer and one of its best defenders.
The Eagles did come away with a 0-0 draw against the Heartland Conference's second-place team on a cool, damp afternoon, but the result hurt the Eagles' postseason hopes. To finish as one of the top four eligible teams for the Heartland tournament, OC (8-7-1, 2-4-1 Heartland) would need to beat Newman (Kan.) next Saturday and hope results of five other league games fall their way.
The tie hurt Rogers State (9-4-3, 3-2-2) too, as it ended any chance of the Hillcats possibly winning the league's regular-season title. Rogers State isn't eligible for this year's Heartland tournament.
Rogers State posted a 31-15 shot advantage over the Eagles and controlled the action in the game's early stages, although OC more than held its own defensively, thanks in good part to 11 saves by
Evan Helker, who matched his season high in that category. He recorded his seventh shutout of the season.
The Eagles generated a couple of good scoring chances, most notably in the 38th minute, when
Brandon Little Axe's twisting shot hit the right post. But in the 48th minute, leading scorer
Ante Susic went down with an injury and didn't return.
In the 86th minute, the aggressive, physical Hillcats almost won the game when Kevin Kwarteng's shot also hit the post. Less than 15 seconds after that, OC's
Clay Collier – who was the Heartland's defensive player of the week a week ago – also had to leave the game and didn't return.
Taylor Vanderford moved from his defensive midfield position to fill Collier's spot on the back line, but that left a thin group of Eagles even more so and made it more difficult to move the ball forward. OC had only two shots during the 20 minutes of overtime.
Rogers State goalkeeper Cody Gammill made five saves.
OC will host Eastern New Mexico on Thursday in a nonconference game before playing Newman on Saturday.
