UCO Soccer Kicks Into First Place

The No. 16 University of Central Oklahoma soccer team remains undefeated after taking down No. 17 Central Missouri State University 2-0 at Wantland Stadium on Sunday in a top-25 matchup, and Lindenwood University 7-0 on Friday. With the two wins, the Bronchos improve to 12-0 on the season and 4-0 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.

“That was a big win for this team to know how good they truly are,” said head coach Mike Cook. “This team is capable of so much and they’ve shown that. They work together and work so hard. It’s a lot of fun to see them walk away winners after a game like that.”

Katie Killion scored the first goal in each game this week. Sunday she finished with two goals that came in the sixth and 85th minute, and Friday she recorded a hat trick. With her posting of five goals this week, she is now the nation‘s leading scorer this season with 17 goals.

The win is UCO’s first against Central Missouri since October 2016 when the Bronchos won 2-1. Killion scored the first goal in that matchup as well when she broke the scoreless tie in the 42nd minute. That was the first goal the Mules gave up in the 2016 season.

“Katie was good tonight,”Cook said after Friday’s win. “But so was the rest of our offense. [Kaitlyn] Asha was really good. The offense was aggressive and I’m really proud of the defense too for their efforts. For them to only allow one shot on goal tonight was big.”

No. 16 Central Oklahoma picked up its 10th shutout of the season, improving to 12-0 with a win over No. 17 Central Missouri Sunday in Edmond. @UCOSoccer #RollChos https://t.co/X9Ro9icKTH

— UCO Bronchos (@ucoathletics) October 7, 2018

In Sunday’s matchup, UCO only allowed nine shots, four of which were on goal, but none fell through. This brings UCO to 10 games this season where an opponent has failed to score. The Bronchos have only allowed two goals all season, which both came from a winless Southwest Baptist University team in separate matches. 

True freshman goalie Kelsi Gibson leads the nation in goals against, with an average of .121.

As of last Tuesday, UCO is one of five teams in the nation that remain undefeated in Division II, with the exception of University of California-San Diego, Grand Valley State University, Columbus State University and Concordia University who have all recorded draws.

Of the five truly undefeated teams, UCO ranks fifth behind University of West Florida, Bemidji State University, Barry University and Franklin Pierce University.

UCO’s next matchup will be at home Friday against Emporia State University, who is coming off of a 1-0 win over Southwest Baptist. With a 9-2-1 (4-1-0 MIAA) record, Emporia State is having its best start in program history.