OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University survived gusty winds in a double-overtime match with conference foe Southern Nazarene to wind up the 1-0 victors in the Sooner Athletic Conference women's soccer tournament semifinals on Tuesday at Stars Field.
No. 15-ranked OCU (18-2) will now host the tournament's No. 2 seed John Brown (Ark.) in the championship match 2 p.m. Saturday at Stars Field. The Stars won the first meeting between the two squads in a 2-1 battle at John Brown on Oct. 12.
The solitary goal of the match came off the foot of Sheridan Horner, a sophomore from Choctaw, Okla., in the 104th minute of play. Horner received a pass from Rachael O'Brien, a sophomore from Plano, Texas, near the right edge of the box. After listening to some key advice from teammate Alex Miley, Horner netted the game-winner in sudden death.
“Earlier in the overtime, I had missed a really good shot over the goal so I focused on keeping my head over the ball,” Horner recalled about the game-winner. “I heard Miley yelling behind me 'back post,' so that's what I did – left foot, back post and it went in.
“At first I thought it was just like a regular goal and we would keep playing, but then everyone was screaming behind me and I realized the game was over. It was so exciting.”
Regulation ended knotted at zero, and Southern Nazarene came out on the offensive in the first 10 minutes of the golden-goal period. Southern Nazarene's Jackie Acevedo booted two solid shots toward the OCU net, but both missed their mark. Stars goalkeeper Brittany Tibbs, a senior from Kansas City, Mo., wrestled one ball away from entering the net with her fingertips, saving the game for OCU. Tibbs ended the night with five saves and her 10th shutout performance of the season.
“I thought throughout the game we created some quality chances and we didn't really put our chances away when we had opportunities,” OCU coach Brian Harvey said. “SNU had a very good opportunity in sudden-death overtime and Tibbsy comes off with the big save. This was a very good test against a very good Southern Nazarene team.”
In the second period of overtime, it was OCU's chance to finish the match. Horner missed a shot high in the 102nd minute of the match, but her second chance two minutes later found its mark to seal the victory.
“This was a good test for us in terms of when we go to the national tournament,” Harvey said. “The girls have got to realize that you don't get that many chances against good teams, so what we get them we've got to put them away.”
Boxscore
Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament
WOMEN
Saturday, Nov. 6
Quarterfinals
Oklahoma City 3, Lubbock Christian (Texas) 2
Southern Nazarene 2, Rogers State 1
Mid-America Christian 2, Oklahoma Baptist 0
John Brown (Ark.) 2, USAO 1, 2OT
Tuesday's Results
Semifinals
John Brown 2, Mid-America Christian 1
Oklahoma City 1, Southern Nazarene 0, 2 OT
Saturday's Match
Championship
John Brown at Oklahoma City, 2 p.m.
