SEARCY – Freshman midfielder Bethany Sutherland scored two goals to lift the Harding women's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over Southern Nazarene in the semifinals of the Great American Conference Tournament on Thursday. The Lady Bisons will play Southwestern Oklahoma for the tournament championship on Saturday at 11 a.m., at the Stevens Soccer Complex.
RECORDS
Harding the No. 1 seed improves to 14-3-2 overall. Southern Nazarene the No. 4 seed falls to 8-11-0 overall.
GOALS
Harding 1, Southern Nazarene 0 – 30th minute – Bethany Sutherland dribbled through six defenders and found the lower left corner of the net.
Harding 2, Southern Nazarene 0 – 50th minute – Bethany Sutherland converted a penalty kick.
TEAM STATS
Harding won the GAC regular season championship and earned the right to host the conference tournament.
It was first time in school history the Lady Bisons are the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Harding has advanced to play in every GAC Tournament since the conference was founded in 2011. It was Harding's second win in the GAC Tournament. The last time the Lady Bisons won a conference tournament game was in 2013 when they defeated Ouachita 1-0.
Harding captured its 11th shutout of the season to set a new school record for the most shutouts. The Lady Bisons broke the previous record of 10 set by the 2004 team.
Harding took 22 shots in the game and had seven shots on goal. The Lady Bisons have taken 192 shots on goal this season to set a new record that was previously held by the 2003 squad (191).
Southern Nazarene had seven shots and four were on goal.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Bethany Sutherland scored her 21st and 22nd goal of the season. Sutherland broke both the Harding record and the GAC record this season for the most goals scored in a season. It was her ninth game-winning goal which broke the Harding record. Kendyl Washburn (20004-07) set the record in 2004 when she had eight.
Senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Miller captured the win between the posts for Harding with a 14-3-2 record. Miller got the shutout and increased her season total to 10.
Seniors Larkin Hatcher, Audrey Adkison and Melissa Minnich all played in their 74th game in their career on Thursday. The three players broke the previous record held by Lynsey Clissold (2004-07) and Katie Rankin (2004-07) who played in 73 games.
QUOTE
Harding Head Coach Dr. Greg Harris: "I am proud of the ladies for coming through with the win. Southern Nazarene battled for 90 minutes. This was a tough game. I'm proud of my team for seeing it through to the end."
