Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 14, 2017) – Saturday afternoon's soccer game between Oklahoma Christian and Texas A&M International came down to this – TAMIU took advantage of a stiff wind at its back in the first half, and OC did not in the second half.
TAMIU's Cio Bargallo, the Heartland Conference's scoring leader, put in both of the Dustdevils' goals en route to a 2-0 win over the Lady Eagles at the Eagle Soccer Field. The win allowed TAMIU (3-8-2, 2-7-1 Heartland) to complete a season sweep of OC (2-12, 1-9).
OC was coming off its first conference win of 2017, a dramatic 2-1 decision over St. Mary's (Texas) on Thursday. Coach
Meagan Anderson was hopeful her team would take advantage of momentum generated by that success, but it didn't happen.
"We've got to continue to move forward," Anderson said. "I thought we had a very good showing on Thursday night. Just as much of a good showing as that was, I wasn't pleased with today's showing. I don't think we handled it very well. … I think we know that."
The Dustdevils "were very direct in the first half. What we wanted to do (with the wind) … was play to the feet up top, move ball up field between the thirds and then we look for maybe more shots, because we can shoot from further out. We didn't take advantage of that at all."
TAMIU won the pregame coin toss and elected to take the wind – blowing 21 mph from the southwest, with gusts above 30 mph – and the Dustdevils used it well, hitting the crossbar twice in the first 30 minutes before Bargallo took a long pass from Monica Castro and beat OC goalkeeper
Addison Milner, shooting right-to-left from 10 yards out in the 34th minute.
The Lady Eagles had the wind in the second half, but TAMIU managed to outshoot them 7-6 (and 18-15 for the game), keeping the heat on the OC defense.
OC defenders
Courtney Hernandez and
Chelsea Key each cleared a TAMIU shot off the goal line(in the 51st and 52nd minutes, respectively), but the defense broke down in the 62nd minute, giving Bargallo a one-on-one with Milner. The goalkeeper came out of the penalty box to challenged Bargallo, but Bargallo eluded her and then dribbled into the box and shot into an unguarded goal. She has scored 15 of TAMIU's 17 goals this season.
"We let her get behind us too much and we made it a footrace, which we really didn't have to," Anderson said. "We didn't support each other defensively very well."
"They were very direct in the first half," Anderson said of the Dustdevils. "What we wanted to do (with the wind) … was play to the feet up top, move ball up field between the thirds and then we look for maybe more shots, because we can shoot from further out. We didn't take advantage of that at all."
Milner, who entered the game fifth in NCAA Division II in total saves, added five to her total and now is at 101 for the season. TAMIU goalkeeper Aubrey Hall also had five saves.
OC will play one of the Heartland's traditional powers, St. Edward's (Texas), on the road next Thursday. St. Edward's has spent much of the season in the national top 25 but fell out this week and since has dropped into third place in the league standings.
