Box Score
EDMOND (Oct. 26) – Alli Miller scored the first goal of her three-year career and Central Oklahoma jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 51 minutes en route to a 3-1 Lone Star Conference triumph over East Central at windy Tom Thompson Field Sunday afternoon.
It was the home finale for the Bronchos, who stayed perfect (12-0) in their all-time series with ECU while improving to 11-4-3 on the year and 5-2-1 in the league. Miller, Katelyn Cropp and Morgan Boling all scored their first goals of the year for UCO.
“We started off a little slow, but we played pretty well overall and it was good to end the home season with a win like that,” UCO coach Mike Cook said. “Hopefully we've got some momentum going now and we can finish off the season strong before the conference tournament.”
The Bronchos end the regular season this week with games at Midwestern State (Wednesday) and Southwestern Oklahoma (Friday). The six-team LSC Tournament is set for Nov. 6-9 at the site of the regular season champion.
ECU controlled the tempo early in Sunday's contest and goalkeeper Samantha Rusk had a pair of nice saves in keeping the Tigers at bay in the first 30 minutes.
UCO finally broke the scoreless deadlock in the 34th minute when Cropp took a pass from Boling and fired in a shot to the right side of the net from 15 yards away.
Rusk made a great stop on an ECU shot with five minutes left in the half and the Bronchos quickly went the other way, going ahead 2-0 at the 40:43 mark on Boling's goal as she booted in a wide-open shot from close range after receiving a splendid touch pass from Stephanie Lovely.
UCO pushed its advantage to 3-0 early in the second half when Miller took the ball nearly the length of the field before curving in a shot from the right side of the net. One of the league's top defenders the past three years, it was the first goal of Miller's 65-game career.
The Tigers got their lone goal in the 65th minute to pull within 3-1, but they didn't threaten again and the Bronchos coasted in.
UCO outshot ECU 23-10, including 14-4 in the second half, and had 13 corner kicks. Rusk finished with eight saves.
