SAN ANTONIO -- Midwestern State scored two goals in the second half to beat upstart Oklahoma Christian 2-0 and claim its third Lone Star Conference Postseason title in four years Sunday afternoon at Sigma Beta Chi Field.
"OC really put us under the gun in the first half, then in the second half we rose to the occasion," MSU coach
Michael Meachum said. "It was wildly entertaining and definitely the tale of two halves."
With the win, the Mustangs claim the LSC's automatic bid into their ninth consecutive NCAA Division II tournament field. The postseason field will be unveiled via a selection show on NCAA.com Monday night at 5:30.
"We've been playing knockout futbol for a long time," Meachum said. "We put ourselves in a hole and we had to fight our way out of it. We don't make any excuses, but we have to battle our way through it."
Oklahoma Christian controlled a 6-2 edge in shots in the opening and ended up controlled possession for 55 percent of the match, but was unable to add to the score line.
However, Midwestern State used a long throw-in by
Juan Galindo into the box in the 48th which was headed down before
Eduardo Cerna flicked the ball to an open
Gavin Scott just a little more than 5 yards from goal.
The fifth-year senior from Ayr, Scotland, placed his third goal of the season into the upper right corner of the net to give the Mustangs control.
The MSU back line stood up to Oklahoma Christian's persistent pressure and sophomore goalkeeper
Adam Braman made three saves to secure fifth shutout of the season.
"It was good to get our first clean sheet in a while," he said. "Today, we came to play and the boys were really locked in in the second half."
Junior striker
Mere Escobar polished off the Eagles in the 89th minute when he beat a defender one-on-one to his right then slotted his 10th goal of the season to the lower left corner of the net to give the Mustangs an insurmountable two-goal advantage.
Escobar earned LSC Postseason Tournament MVP honors accounting for two goals and an assist to key MSU's title run. He was joined by Braman, seniors
Jack Larkin and
Brandon Martinez-Trelles, as well as sophomore
Nathan Toledo.
Oklahoma Christian, which improved from one win last season to finish with an 11-4-5 mark this season, was represented by Isaias Silva, Alexandre Picoto Rodrigues, and Joep Classen.
Midwestern State (12-5-3) claimed its fifth LSC postseason championship also winning in 1999, 2001, 2019, and 2021.
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-- MSUMustangs.com --
