Box Score BETHANY, Okla. (Aug. 31, 2017) – Oklahoma Christian controlled the pace of the soccer game and the possession much of the time Thursday night at Southern Nazarene, but it took a while for the Eagles to see the fruits of their labor.

The new-look Eagles seized a foothold with a goal by sophomore Chandler Parrish late in the first half, then salted away the win with scores in the final eight minutes by Cody McLemore and newcomer Jaiden van der Heijden to beat their archrivals 3-0 at Wes Harmon Field.

OC (1-0) shut out SNU (0-1) for the first time since Oct. 1, 2004, when the Eagles won 2-0. The Eagles beat SNU for the second straight season and cut the Crimson Storm's lead in the series to 35-20-1.

The rivals have played at least once in every season but one since 1986, when OC began its men's soccer program. The Eagles stunned SNU in Bethany in 1987 and ever since, games between the rivals typically have been heated battles. Thursday's matchup was no different.

"It's always a tough place to come and play and we haven't had a lot of results here," OC coach David Scott said. "But tonight, the boys played well and closed things out.

"This has been a tough preseason with the weather. This is the first time we've had a chance to get on the field and play a full 90 minutes. That played into things a little bit in the second half when we dropped, but for sure, to get the confidence in the first game in a tough place to play, things look good."

The Eagles outshot SNU 29-12, forcing SNU goalkeeper Jeff Ray to make 11 saves to keep his team in the game. Eleven different Eagles recorded at least one shot, and it was Parrish who finally broke through in the 39th minute, taking a feed from Cole Helterbrand and slotting it home to put the Eagles on top.

The second half followed much the same script, with several prime scoring opportunities bypassing the Eagles before more late heroics. In the 83rd minute, a shot by Helterbrand was deflected but McLemore cleaned it up and beat Ray to make it 2-0. Less than two minutes later, van der Heijden ended all doubt, scoring off an assist from fellow newcomer Matheus Mantovani.

"We had a couple of chances early, the first few minutes," Scott said. "All night, we were creating opportunities, but just couldn't quite put them away. Then Chandler came on and put us up and the second half, again, we created chances but just couldn't put them away. Credit to the guys – there was kind of a lull there in the second half when we had to weather it a little bit, and they did well, and then the guys popped up late to put the two (goals) away."

Somewhat lost in the offensive fireworks was a solid debut performance by OC's new starting goalkeeper, junior-college transfer Gianluca Marchetti, who made five saves as the Eagles posted their first shutout since Oct. 1, 2016, when they beat Texas A&M International 1-0.

"Gianluca dealt with everything he had and great job by the back four (Nijee Cooper, Clay Collier, Tyler Buchanan and Matthew Tedford) as well to clean up a lot of things," Scott said. "It was a good result defensively all the way around."

The Eagles will face two of Southern Nazarene's Great American Conference rivals in their next two games, traveling to sister Church of Christ college Harding (Ark.) on Saturday before hosting Oklahoma Baptist next Thursday.

David Scott discusses the win over SNU: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaOD-Nz6f0I&feature=youtu.be