PORTALES, N.M. (Oct. 13, 2021) – Thanks to sophomores Ellise Foreman and Jordan Freidenbloom, it was a winning Wednesday for Oklahoma Christian's women's soccer team.

Foreman buried a penalty kick with less than two minutes remaining in regulation to give the Eagles a 2-1 win over Eastern New Mexico at Greyhound Stadium, OC's first road victory since the 2019 season.
 
OC (2-5-3, 2-2-3 Lone Star Conference) traveled to Eastern New Mexico (2-8-1, 0-5-1) hungry for a win after the Eagles went 0-1-2 in their previous three matches. With storms on the forecast in Oklahoma City, the Eagles decided to take it with them and make it rain, with two goals.
 
The Eagles fought from an early deficit after the Greyhounds scored in the 26th minute on a strike from freshman Elita Casias. Although OC won the shot battle 10-5 in the first half (and 16-15 for the game), the Eagles went into halftime trailing 1-0, but the second half proved to be OC's time to shine.
 
In the 55th minute, the Eagles controlled the ball just over the midfield line. Junior Cameryn Covington passed the ball back to Freidenbloom, a center back. Freidenbloom hit a long ball toward the Greyhounds' goal, in her mind at attempt to give the Eagles a chance to score. To her surprise, her kick proved to be the tying goal. From about 48 yards out, Freidenbloom's kick went through the hands and legs of Eastern New Mexico goalkeeper senior Whitney Dockweiler and into the goal. The goal was Freindenbloom's first of the 2021 season and the third of her career.
 
For the next 34 minutes, the Eagles and Greyhounds traded shots and possessions with neither finding the back of the net, until the 89th minute when the Eagles received a huge call in their favor -- a foul against the Greyhounds in the penalty box, resulted in a penalty kick for OC. Foreman, the Eagles' co-captain, stepped up and struck the ball towards the bottom right corner of the net, out of the reach of Dockweiler, to give the Eagles the 2-1 lead.

The goal, Foreman's first of the season and third of her collegiate career, proved to be the game-winner as Eastern New Mexico didn't record another shot before time expired.

OC's defense put together another strong outing, pulling the Greyhounds offside eight times Sophomore goalkeeper Gabby Goddard finished the match with four saves, while Dockweiler had eight.

The win was the Eagles' first on the road since Oct. 10, 2019, when they won 2-1 at Texas A&M International on a last-second goal by Freidenbloom.

"Awesome performance tonight," OC coach Evan Dresel said. "This is a difficult place to come in and win. Watching us battle back from down 1-0 to win the game is very encouraging. A lot of players contributed tonight for a great team win."

OC will return home to play LSC rival St. Mary's (Texas) on Saturday at 1 p.m.