UCO wraps up regular season this weekend

10/26/2017 3:48:00 PM | By: Chris Brannick

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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The University of Central Oklahoma soccer team enters the final weekend of the regular season with a Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association matchup against Northeastern State Friday at 7 p.m. The Bronchos also travel to Joplin to take on Missouri Southern on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the regular season finale.

Central Oklahoma heads into the weekend 7-7-2 on the season and 4-3-2 in conference play. The Bronchos sit sixth in the league standings ahead of next week's MIAA Tournament. The top eight teams in the league make the tourney, while the top four host first-round games.

UCO has clinched a berth in the postseason, and can climb as high as No. 4 in the standings, but would need a very specific set of circumstances to fall into place before that happens.

The Bronchos are looking to avenge an earlier loss to Northeastern State in a non-conference game in Edmond last month. UCO has won 19 of 24 all-time meetings with NSU.

"We are focusing on, just go play," UCO head soccer coach Mike Cook said. "We've obviously been really up and down this season. We just need to go out there and play soccer. None of that other stuff matters."

Asha Haile and Kelsie Eason continue to lead the Bronchos in goals scored. Both have eight. UCO's duo of young forwards was tied with six goals apiece just a few weeks ago. They both scored their seventh goal of the season against Northwest Missouri on Sunday, Oct. 15, and both scored their eighth goal of the season this past Sunday against Fort Hays State.

Mikayla Lowery and Morgan Cherry each have five goals. The quartet has accounted for 50 percent of the Broncho shots on goal this season. Haile and Eason have each taken 17, Lowery has taken 16, and Cherry has a team-high 18 on target this season.

Katie Killion this past Sunday scored her first goal of the season in the Broncho win over Fort Hays State. Killion entered the season with 22 career goals scored, but missed the first nine games of the season with an injury. She's played the past seven, and already has taken 10 shots, and now has her first goal of the season.

Killion has begun to show flashes of her potent, aggressive attack, which could spell good things for the Bronchos this weekend.

Northeastern hosts the Bronchos with a 13-2 overall record and a 7-2 mark in league in play. The Riverhawks are also ranked fifth in the NCAA Central Regional rankings as teams begin to consider their fate following the conference tournament next week.

NSU is led by Paulina Chavez, who has a team-high nine goals despite only starting 2 of 15 games this season. NSU scores 2.4 goals per game on average this season, and has a pestering defense allowing just 0.8 goals per outing.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. under the lights at Dr. Dan F. DeLoache Field.

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