Note: This is one of a series of stories that will take a look back at some of the many titles won by Oklahoma Christian teams and individuals through the decades. Today's story is about the 1988-89 men's soccer team that won the Collegiate Indoor Soccer League title.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 3, 2020) – From the time Oklahoma Christian started its varsity men's soccer program, it seemed the Eagles were playing catch-up against their local NAIA rivals, Southern Nazarene and Oklahoma City University.

SNU already had an established, winning program when OC and OCU debuted in 1986. OC didn't offer scholarships for the sport that first season but OCU did, which gave OCU a leg up in recruiting and developing its program. But in 1989, OC's program announced its arrival, winning an unexpected title during an off-season local indoor collegiate league.

OC went 1-11-1 outdoors in 1986 with a group of walk-ons before the school hired a full-time coach, Nathan Shotts, before the 1987 outdoor season. Shotts began the work of building a program while trying to compete against SNU and OCU. In his first season, the Eagles posted a stunning 3-2 upset of a strong SNU squad that eventually won the NAIA District 9 title, but lost 7-1 a week later in a rematch in the district playoffs.

During the 1988 outdoor season, OC went 0-4-1 against its local rivals, including a pair of 4-0 losses to OCU. So when the Eagles started play in the Collegiate Indoor Soccer League at the Summerfield Indoor Soccer Complex in late February 1989, it seemed predictable they'd again play third fiddle in a league that also included club squads from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and what's now known as Central Oklahoma.

OC opened the season with an impressive 12-7 against the OSU club team, smashing the Eagles' indoor single-game scoring record. But it was the next game that started turning heads, as a shorthanded OC squad – without enough players to run two lines – held SNU to a 3-3 draw. SNU had beaten OC 13-1 during the 1988 indoor season.

In their next game, the Eagles became the first team to beat OCU in the CISL's three-year history, knocking off the team then known as the Chiefs 5-2. But OCU was missing several of its top players, so there still were some doubters, even as OC wrapped up the top seed for the CISL playoffs with a 7-5 win over Oklahoma.

Facing Central State (now UCO) in the semifinals, the Eagles rolled 22-8 and smashed most league scoring records. Ray Mueller had five goals, Magnus Karlsson had six assists to go with four goals and Jon Goad and Dan Chapman each scored three goals. Three other players – Rusty Wood, Robert Baugh and Kerry Shubert – had two goals each.

SNU ousted OCU in the other semifinal and OC player Kem Molet brashly predicted the Eagles would win the title. Molet and his teammates then backed up that statement. Goad earned most valuable player honors, scoring five goals as the Eagles rallied from a 4-3 third-quarter deficit to win 9-5. Karlsson shut out SNU's top offensive player, Dale Richards.

"I've never had that kind of game at this level before," Goad told The Talon's associate sports editor, Murray Evans, after the win.

Shotts credited other players with strong performances, including Sean Cather, Eric Young, Ray Mueller and Torrey Foster. Shotts said at the time that OC's indoor title elevated the Eagles' program and coaches from both SNU (Wes Harmon) and OCU (Brian Harvey) acknowledged that their crosstown rival had arrived.

"We beat the two powerhouses indoors," he said. "No one can say we're the little kid on the block anymore. We've proved we have some talent, too. We have talent, just like they do."

Members of the 1988-89 OC soccer squad went on to have big impacts on their sport – both at OC and elsewhere – that continue to this day. Shotts coached the Eagles for seven seasons and helped found the OC women's soccer program, coaching that squad in its debut campaign in 1993. He's now the chief executive officer for the Colorado Soccer Association.

His replacement as OC's coach was Goad, who guided the men's and women's programs from 1994 through 1998. He went on to serve as the head men's coach at one of OC's sister institutions, Lipscomb, from 1999 to 2004, helping that program transition from the NAIA into NCAA Division I. He also spent three years as Lipscomb's women's coach.

Kerry Shubert has enjoyed a successful career as a high school, club and college coach in both the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan areas, while his older brother Kip Shubert also has found success in coaching Oklahoma club and prep soccer, first at Putnam City High School and now at Sapulpa.

Two of Kip Shubert's former players at Sapulpa, Nick Ryan and T.J. Hale, are freshmen at OC, and one of Kip's and Kerry's former club players, David Scott, has been OC's head coach since 2006.