EDMOND, Okla. – Luis Alvis scored in the 18th minute, Dante Caffaro made four saves for the shutout, and Oklahoma Christian played a man down for more than 70 minutes to beat Texas A&M International 1-0 Wednesday night at Eagle Soccer Field. The win clinches the Eagles a spot in the Lone Star Conference Tournament and keeps them unbeaten in league play at 5-0-4.
Alvis got the only goal at 17:47, finishing off a pass from Igor Caballero for his fourth goal of the season. Just over a minute later, Frederico Palacios was shown a red card for a slide tackle, and OC played the rest of the match with 10 players.
The Dustdevils pushed for an equalizer and outshot the Eagles 10-6, but Caffaro stopped all four shots on goal. He denied Aidan Williams twice in the first half, then turned away Kaleth Jimenez in the 62nd minute and Heiko Droemer in the 83rd. It was Caffaro's eighth shutout of the season, the most in the Lone Star Conference and a total that would tie him for fifth nationally. Jimenez hit the woodwork 43 seconds into the second half, and Caballero answered with a shot off the woodwork of his own in the 47th minute.
OC earned five corner kicks to TAMIU's two. Seven Eagles played all 90 minutes: Caffaro, Luca Winder, Tyler Ackah-Wheatcroft, Joshua Wells, Hunter Wilson, Ismael Allimadi and Alejandro Gomez.
Up Next
Saturday's match at UT Tyler (3 p.m. CT) will decide where the Eagles land in the bracket. OC (9-3-4, 5-0-4 LSC) sits second in the standings with 19 points, one behind Midwestern State. The top two seeds skip the Oct. 31 quarterfinals and host semifinals Nov. 4. A win would lift OC to 22 points and keep the regular-season title in play, with Midwestern State and St. Mary's meeting in the final game of the regular season on Oct. 28. The Eagles are guaranteed to finish no lower than fourth, which means at least a home quarterfinal.
