UCO Women’s Soccer Heads Back to MIAA Championships

The University of Central Oklahoma women’s soccer team advanced to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) Women’s Soccer Championship final after its 1-0 win over Emporia State on Thursday afternoon.

The Bronchos are now 10-5-5 on the season and 6-3-3 in conference play.

The game started slowly, with both teams remaining scoreless until just before the 60-minute mark, when Central Oklahoma was awarded a free kick. Sophomore defender Kaitlyn Cotton made the kick for the Bronchos, with the assist from midfielder Rebekah George, to give UCO the 1-0 lead. Goalkeeper Avery Bass contributed greatly, recording her 11th shutout of the season and keeping Emporia from scoring to ultimately seal the win and send UCO back to the championship final.   

UCO outshot Emporia 12-8 on total shots, but both teams tied shots on goal with 4 apiece.

Following the win, senior Lauren Piper earned the “A Game” Scholar-Athlete Award, presented by Athletic Solutions, for this year’s MIAA Women’s Soccer Championships. This award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest GPA during one of the MIAA’s 16 championships. Piper is a Kinesiology student with a 4.0 GPA.    

This is the second year in a row UCO’s soccer team is headed to the championship game, after coming up short in the final, losing 0-1 to Central Missouri last year. 

The women’s soccer team has won the MIAA Soccer Championships twice throughout the program’s history. They earned the title for the first time in 2018, before collecting it again the following season, in 2019.

No. 4 seed Missouri Western faced off against No. 8 seed Northeastern State yesterday afternoon in the semifinals on the other side of the bracket, where Western defeated Northeastern 3-1.

Central Oklahoma will play Missouri Western in the championship game. The championship final will be held at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas, this Saturday, with game time scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. 

The Bronchos traveled to Missouri Western last month, where that game concluded in a scoreless draw. 

The winner of the championship will receive an automatic qualification to the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division II Women’s Soccer Championship for the Central Regional.